WorldWideScience

Sample records for traffic safety impact

  1. Impact of distracted driving on safety and traffic flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stavrinos, Despina; Jones, Jennifer L; Garner, Annie A; Griffin, Russell; Franklin, Crystal A; Ball, David; Welburn, Sharon C; Ball, Karlene K; Sisiopiku, Virginia P; Fine, Philip R

    2013-12-01

    Studies have documented a link between distracted driving and diminished safety; however, an association between distracted driving and traffic congestion has not been investigated in depth. The present study examined the behavior of teens and young adults operating a driving simulator while engaged in various distractions (i.e., cell phone, texting, and undistracted) and driving conditions (i.e., free flow, stable flow, and oversaturation). Seventy five participants 16-25 years of age (split into 2 groups: novice drivers and young adults) drove a STISIM simulator three times, each time with one of three randomly presented distractions. Each drive was designed to represent daytime scenery on a 4 lane divided roadway and included three equal roadway portions representing Levels of Service (LOS) A, C, and E as defined in the 2000 Highway Capacity Manual. Participants also completed questionnaires documenting demographics and driving history. Both safety and traffic flow related driving outcomes were considered. A Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance was employed to analyze continuous outcome variables and a Generalized Estimate Equation (GEE) Poisson model was used to analyze count variables. Results revealed that, in general more lane deviations and crashes occurred during texting. Distraction (in most cases, text messaging) had a significantly negative impact on traffic flow, such that participants exhibited greater fluctuation in speed, changed lanes significantly fewer times, and took longer to complete the scenario. In turn, more simulated vehicles passed the participant drivers while they were texting or talking on a cell phone than while undistracted. The results indicate that distracted driving, particularly texting, may lead to reduced safety and traffic flow, thus having a negative impact on traffic operations. No significant differences were detected between age groups, suggesting that all drivers, regardless of age, may drive in a manner

  2. The impact of navigation systems on traffic safety

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rooijen, T. van; Vonk, T.

    2007-01-01

    This paper studies the impact of navigation systems on traffic safety in the Netherlands. This study consists of four analyses: a literature survey, a database analysis, a user survey and an instrumented vehicle study. The results of the four sections show that navigation systems have a positive

  3. The impact of navigation systems on traffic safety

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rooijen, T. van; Vonk, T.

    2008-01-01

    This paper studies the impact of navigation systems on traffic safety in the Netherlands. This study consists of four analyses: a literature survey, a database analysis, a user survey and an instrumented vehicle study. The results of the four sections show that navigation systems have a positive

  4. The impact of a congestion assistant on traffic flow efficiency and safety in congested traffic caused by a lane drop

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Driel, Cornelie; van Arem, Bart

    2010-01-01

    This article presents the results of a microscopic traffic simulation study conducted to investigate the impact of a Congestion Assistant on traffic efficiency and traffic safety. The Congestion Assistant is an in-vehicle system in which an active pedal supports the driver when approaching

  5. Impact of traffic noise on railway traffic safety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zdravko TOŠ

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Traffic noise is one of the dominant factors of ergo-assessment. The harmful impact of traffic noise on the engine driver as target group can be studied in isolation from other ergo-assessment factors only in the initial phase of research. The simultaneous action of several related factors in the system of ergo-assessment factors has cumulative effect on the perception and psychomotoric status of the railway traffic participants in the appropriate traffic situation. The initial partial research of traffic noise by a combination of several scientific methods needs to be eventually upgraded by studying the relations among several concurrent important or dominant ergo-assessment factors.

  6. Safety Impacts of Push-Button and Countdown Timer on Nonmotorized Traffic at Intersections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bei Zhou

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper applies the random parameters negative binominal model to investigate safety impacts of push-button and countdown timer on pedestrians and cyclists at urban intersections. To account for possible unobserved heterogeneity which could vary from one intersection to another, random parameters model is introduced. A simulation-based maximum likelihood method using Halton draws is applied to estimate the maximum likelihood of random parameters in the model. Dataset containing pedestrians’ and cyclists’ crash data of 1,001 intersections from Chicago is utilized to establish the statistical relationship between crash frequencies and potential impact factors. LIMDEP (Version 9.0 statistical package is utilized for modeling. The parameter estimation results indicate that existence of push-button and countdown timer could significantly reduce crash frequencies of pedestrians and cyclists at intersections. Increasing number of through traffic lanes, left turn lanes, and ratio of major direction AADT to minor direction AADT, tend to increase crash frequencies. Annual average daily left turn traffic has a negative impact on pedestrians’ safety, but its impact on cyclists’ crash frequency is statistically insignificant at 90% confidence level. The results of current study could provide important insights for nonmotorized traffic safety improvement projects in both planning and operational levels.

  7. Traffic safety and environmental impacts. Synergies and conflicts; Liikenteen turvallisuuden ja ympaeristoevaikutusten synergiat ja vastakkainasettelut

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pollanen, M.; Ahlroth, J.; Aalto, E.; Liimatainen, H. [Tampere Univ. of Technology (Finland). Transport Research Centre Verne

    2013-06-01

    The improvement of safety and mitigation of harmful environmental effects are two key goals in developing sustainable transport. In part, the same measures can improve safety and mitigate environmental impacts. On the other hand, measures for improving safety may aggravate harmful environmental effects, and vice versa. The objective of this study is to describe the synergies and conflicts related to the objectives of improving the safety and mitigating the environmental impacts of transport and, in particular, the measures taken in pursuit of these objectives. The study conducted as a literature review complemented with expert interviews and workshops. The study focused on examining measures that could be implemented in Finland. Measures at transport system level for influencing traffic volumes and the use of different means of passenger and goods transport, as well as safety and environmental measures in road, rail, water and air traffic, were the subject of separate investigation. More than 200 measures for influencing the safety and environmental impacts of transport were reviewed in the study. A large portion of these measures only have a significant effect on one or the other of these subjects of study: the impact of safety measures is primarily directed at safety, while environmental measures mainly affect the environment. The core synergies between transport and the environment relate to vehicle mileage, since a reduced mileage translates to improved safety and reduced environmental impacts, such as lower energy consumption and fewer emissions. On the transport system level, output can be influenced by measures such as promoting remote work, alleviating the need for travel by using electronic services, and increasing the utilization of capacity in goods transport. The choice of transport mode has a large impact on safety, since different modes of transport entail significantly different risks and environmental impacts. Increasing the attractiveness of public

  8. Studies of vehicle lane-changing dynamics and its effect on traffic efficiency, safety and environmental impact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiang; Sun, Jian-Qiao

    2017-02-01

    Drivers often change lanes on the road to maintain desired speed and to avoid slow vehicles, pedestrians, obstacles and lane closure. Understanding the effect of lane-changing on the traffic is an important topic in designing optimal traffic control systems. This paper presents a comprehensive study of this topic. We review the theory of microscopic dynamic car-following models and the lane-changing models, propose additional lane-changing rules to deal with moving bottleneck and lane reduction, and investigate the effects of lane-changing on the traffic efficiency, traffic safety and fuel consumption as a function of different variables including the distance of the emergency sign ahead of the lane closure, speed limit, traffic density, etc. Extensive simulations of the traffic system have been carried out in different scenarios. A number of important findings of the effect of various factors on the traffic are reported. These findings provide guidance on the traffic management and are important to the designers and engineers of modern highway or inner city roads to achieve high traffic efficiency and safety with minimum environmental impact.

  9. Active transportation: do current traffic safety policies protect non-motorists?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mader, Emily M; Zick, Cathleen D

    2014-06-01

    This study investigated the impact that state traffic safety regulations have on non-motorist fatality rates. Data obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) were analyzed through a pooled time series cross-sectional model using fixed effects regression for all 50 states from 1999 to 2009. Two dependent variables were used in separate models measuring annual state non-motorist fatalities per million population, and the natural log of state non-motorist fatalities. Independent variables measuring traffic policies included state expenditures for highway law enforcement and safety per capita; driver cell phone use regulations; graduated driver license regulations; driver blood alcohol concentration regulations; bike helmet regulations; and seat belt regulations. Other control variables included percent of all vehicle miles driven that are urban and mean per capita alcohol consumption per year. Non-motorist traffic safety was positively impacted by state highway law enforcement and safety expenditures per capita, with a decrease in non-motorist fatalities occurring with increased spending. Per capita consumption of alcohol also influenced non-motorist fatalities, with higher non-motorist fatalities occurring with higher per capita consumption of alcohol. Other traffic safety covariates did not appear to have a significant impact on non-motorist fatality rates in the models. Our research suggests that increased expenditures on state highway and traffic safety and the initiation/expansion of programs targeted at curbing both driver and non-motorist intoxication are a starting point for the implementation of traffic safety policies that reduce risks for non-motorists. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Traffic safety strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Sadauskas

    2003-04-01

    Full Text Available Fast development of the number of vehicles is closely related not only to large benefit for the public but also to certain undesirable social and economic consequences. Firstly - large numbers of injured and killed people are involved into the accidents. The target to improve traffic safety situation in Lithuania can be reached only after the detailed evaluation of transport system, environment, traffic participants, road and vehicle. Taking into consideration the accident situation in Lithuania and its causes the followings priority trends are suggested: The improvement of the coordination of road traffic safety system, the training and education of road users, the explanation of the importance of traffic safety and its propagation, the improvement of traffic conditions. Recommendations and proposals for differentiated criterion of maximum speed limit selection taking into account different factors are provided in the work.

  11. Evaluating the safety impact of adaptive cruise control in traffic oscillations on freeways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ye; Li, Zhibin; Wang, Hao; Wang, Wei; Xing, Lu

    2017-07-01

    Adaptive cruise control (ACC) has been considered one of the critical components of automated driving. ACC adjusts vehicle speeds automatically by measuring the status of the ego-vehicle and leading vehicle. Current commercial ACCs are designed to be comfortable and convenient driving systems. Little attention is paid to the safety impacts of ACC, especially in traffic oscillations when crash risks are the highest. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of ACC parameter settings on rear-end collisions on freeways. First, the occurrence of a rear-end collision in a stop-and-go wave was analyzed. A car-following model in an integrated ACC was developed for a simulation analysis. The time-to-collision based factors were calculated as surrogate safety measures of the collision risk. We also evaluated different market penetration rates considering that the application of ACC will be a gradual process. The results showed that the safety impacts of ACC were largely affected by the parameters. Smaller time delays and larger time gaps improved safety performance, but inappropriate parameter settings increased the collision risks and caused traffic disturbances. A higher reduction of the collision risk was achieved as the ACC vehicle penetration rate increased, especially in the initial stage with penetration rates of less than 30%. This study also showed that in the initial stage, the combination of ACC and a variable speed limit achieved better safety improvements on congested freeways than each single technique. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. ENHANCEMENT OF ROAD SAFETY THROUGH MORE EFFECTIVE ROAD AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomasz SZCZURASZEK

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available To make the policy aimed at mitigating the risk of road incidents more effective, Poland should see the introduction of the more efficient road and traffic management. In November 2008 the European Parliament and the European Council published the Directive on "infrastructure safety management" which provides guidance on the procedures for carrying impact assessments of traffic safety, traffic safety audits, safety management on the road network and monitoring traffic safety in Member States. In this article, the authors have proposed a systemic approach to road and traffic management, involving the implementation of consistent procedures that should include regular revisions of roads, eliminating hazardous sites, speed management, as well as the approval and implementation of traffic organization designs.

  13. Incorporating Traffic Control and Safety Hardware Performance Functions into Risk-based Highway Safety Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zongzhi Li

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Traffic control and safety hardware such as traffic signs, lighting, signals, pavement markings, guardrails, barriers, and crash cushions form an important and inseparable part of highway infrastructure affecting safety performance. Significant progress has been made in recent decades to develop safety performance functions and crash modification factors for site-specific crash predictions. However, the existing models and methods lack rigorous treatments of safety impacts of time-deteriorating conditions of traffic control and safety hardware. This study introduces a refined method for computing the Safety Index (SI as a means of crash predictions for a highway segment that incorporates traffic control and safety hardware performance functions into the analysis. The proposed method is applied in a computation experiment using five-year data on nearly two hundred rural and urban highway segments. The root-mean square error (RMSE, Chi-square, Spearman’s rank correlation, and Mann-Whitney U tests are employed for validation.

  14. Impact of cruise control on traffic safety, energy consumption and environmental pollution : final report

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoedemaeker, D.M.; Brouwer, R.F.T.; Malone, K.; Klunder, G.; et al

    2006-01-01

    In this subproject, the impact of Cruise Control (CC) was analysed with respect to traffic safety, energy consumption, and environmental pollution. In order to work on this topic from a European perspective, a team of European experts in the fields of driver assistance systems, human factors,

  15. An assessment of traffic safety culture related to engagement in efforts to improve traffic safety : final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-01

    This final report summarizes the methods, results, conclusions, and recommendations derived from a survey conducted to understand values, beliefs, and attitudes regarding engagement in behaviors that impact the traffic safety of others. Results of th...

  16. Impact of Minimum Driveway Spacing Policies on Safety Performance: An Integrated Traffic Micro-Simulation and Automated Conflict Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chu C. Minh

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available A key strategy for successful access management is the adoption of driveway spacing guidelines that consider both safety and operations. The goal is to provide sufficient distance from one driveway to the next so that drivers can perceive and react to the conditions at each potential conflict point in succession. State DOTs across the country have adopted different driveway spacing standards that vary according to the access class and characteristics of the adjacent roadway, such as type of roadway, posted speed limit, and traffic volume. Utilizing the VISSIM microscopic traffic simulation tool and FHWA's Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM, this research examined safety implications of four different driveway spacing policies representing 13 states. The analysis involved calibrating the VISSIM model for an arterial roadway corridor in West Columbia, SC, and then using the calibrated model to simulate various operational changes to the corridor, including speed limits, traffic volumes, and the associated minimum driveway spacing criteria for the four different policies. SSAM was used to analyze vehicle trajectories derived from VISSIM to determine the number of conflict points. Experimental results indicate that posted speed limit and traffic volume are the primary impact factors for driveway safety, and thus, these parameters should be considered in establishing minimum driveway spacing. Findings from this study indicate that there are significant differences in safety impacts between the different driveway spacing policies adopted by various state DOTs.

  17. Regulatory measures for traffic safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Veerapur, R.D.; Bharambe, S.D.; Patnaik, S.K.; Tandle, A.K.; Sonawane, K.A.; Kumar, Rajesh; Venkat Subramanian, K.

    2017-01-01

    Traffic safety is an issue related to occupational safety not restricted alone to the transportation but extends beyond. BARC has many facilities spread across large area in Mumbai and outside Mumbai. BARC deploys large number of buses, mini buses, jeeps and cars for commuting its employees to reach BARC and for commuting within BARC premises. Additionally, trucks, fire tenders, trailers etc. are also deployed for transportation of materials. No moving vehicle is ever free of the possibility of involvement in an accident. Vehicular accidents and the fatalities on road are the result of inter-play of a number of factors. The vehicle population has been steadily increasing with the pace picking up significantly in recent past. Increase in vehicle population in the face of limited road space used by a large variety of traffic has heightened the need and urgency for a well-thought-out road safety. Therefore, existence of regulatory authority to regulate traffic and vehicles to ensure safety of its employees and vehicles is very essential. BARC Traffic Safety Committee (BTSC), which is the regulating body for traffic safety is responsible for ensuring overall traffic safety. (author)

  18. Investigation of the impact of low cost traffic engineering measures on road safety in urban areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yannis, George; Kondyli, Alexandra; Georgopoulou, Xenia

    2014-01-01

    This paper investigates the impact of low cost traffic engineering measures (LCTEMs) on the improvement of road safety in urban areas. A number of such measures were considered, such as speed humps, woonerfs, raised intersections and other traffic calming measures, which have been implemented on one-way, one-lane roads in the Municipality of Neo Psychiko in the Greater Athens Area. Data were analysed using the before-and-after safety analysis methodology with large control group. The selected control group comprised of two Municipalities in the Athens Greater Area, which present similar road network and land use characteristics with the area considered. The application of the methodology showed that the total number of crashes presented a statistically significant reduction, which can be possibly attributed to the introduction of LCTEMs. This reduction concerns passenger cars and single-vehicle crashes and is possibly due to the behavioural improvement of drivers of 25 years old or more. The results of this research are very useful for the identification of the appropriate low cost traffic engineering countermeasures for road safety problems in urban areas.

  19. 2016 Traffic Safety Culture Index

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Newsroom SEARCH Driver Behavior & Performance 2016 Traffic Safety Culture Index This report presents the results of our annual Traffic Safety Culture Index survey, providing data on the attitudes and ...

  20. Road safety and bicycle usage impacts of unbundling vehicular and cycle traffic in Dutch urban networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schepers, Paul; Heinen, Eva; Methorst, Rob; Wegman, Fred

    2013-01-01

    Bicycle-motor vehicle crashes are concentrated along distributor roads where cyclists are exposed to greater volumes of high-speed motorists than they would experience on access roads. This study examined the road safety impact of network-level separation of vehicular and cycle traffic in Dutch

  1. Road safety and bicycle usage impacts of unbundling vehicular and cycle traffic in Dutch urban networks.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schepers, P. Heinen, E. Methorst, R. & Wegman, F.

    2015-01-01

    Bicycle-motor vehicle crashes are concentrated along distributor roads where cyclists are exposed to greater volumes of high-speed motorists than they would experience on access roads. This study examined the road safety impact of network-level separation of vehicular and cycle traffic in Dutch

  2. State Traffic Safety Information

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — The State Traffic Safety Information (STSI) portal is part of the larger Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Encyclopedia. STSI provides state-by-state traffic...

  3. Safety in traffic for vulnerable military road users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandar J. Bulajić

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The Army of Serbia, as a relatively closed system, regulates the field of traffic safety; however, during peacetime, general rules apply to all participants in traffic circulation. The Republic of Serbia is in the group of countries with a high number of road fatalities. The level of traffic safety in the Serbian Army has been on constant increase since 2000, although the relevant transport authorities in the military are not yet satisfied with the achieved level (even one lost life is too much. The increase can be deceptive, since if we take into account the substantial reduction in vehicle use due to various factors in the last few years (poor financial situation in the country as well as in the military, under-investment in the purchase of new vehicles, purchase of transportation services, fewer drivers drafted and more vehicles driven by trained officers, etc., it is not surprising that there are fewer accidents and fewer road deaths and injuries among military personnel. This paper aims at approaching the problem of pedestrian safety as a segment of road safety and at making an educational impact on all members of the military, because they all participate in traffic daily, if not as drivers or passengers, then certainly in large numbers as pedestrians. The basis of this paper is aimed at shedding light on the causes of pedestrian road fatalities due to their mistakes, i. e. 'negligence' of the participants in car accidents with the participation of pedestrians, as well as at proposing measures to reduce and prevent traffic accidents with pedestrians.

  4. The impact of traffic sign deficit on road traffic accidents in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ezeibe, Christian; Ilo, Chukwudi; Oguonu, Chika; Ali, Alphonsus; Abada, Ifeanyi; Ezeibe, Ezinwanne; Oguonu, Chukwunonso; Abada, Felicia; Izueke, Edwin; Agbo, Humphrey

    2018-04-04

    This study assesses the impact of traffic sign deficit on road traffic accidents in Nigeria. The participants were 720 commercial vehicle drivers. While simple random sampling was used to select 6 out of 137 federal highways, stratified random sampling was used to select six categories of commercial vehicle drivers. The study used qual-dominant mixed methods approach comprising key informant interviews; group interviews; field observation; policy appraisal and secondary literature on traffic signs. Result shows that the failure of government to provide and maintain traffic signs in order to guide road users through the numerous accident black spots on the highways is the major cause of road accidents in Nigeria. The study argues that provision and maintenance of traffic signs present opportunity to promoting safety on the highways and achieving the sustainable development goals.

  5. The Influence of Errors in Visualization Systems on the Level of Safety Threat in Air Traffic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paweł Ferduła

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Air traffic management is carried out by air traffic controllers assisted by complex technical systems that provide them with visualization of the traffic situation. In practice, visualization systems errors sometimes occur. The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of errors of different types on the safety of the air traffic. The assessment of the threat level is influenced by subjective factors and cannot be expressed precisely. Therefore, the fuzzy reasoning theory has been used. The developed fuzzy model has been used to obtain a tool for simulation of the impact of various factors on traffic safety assessment. The results obtained indicate that the most important determinants of safety are the time when the air traffic controller remains unaware of the breakdown and the total time he/she does not have full knowledge of the traffic situation. It has been found that the key role for the proper operation of the air traffic visualization system and the restoration of full situational awareness is played by self-diagnostic systems that can restore the system’s correct functioning without even the controller being aware of the error occurrence. Their role in ensuring safety might be even greater than redundancy which is commonly used.

  6. Investigating the relationship between jobs-housing balance and traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Chengcheng; Li, Haojie; Zhao, Jingya; Chen, Jun; Wang, Wei

    2017-10-01

    This study aimed to investigate the effects of jobs-housing balance on traffic safety. The crash, demographic characteristics, employment, road network, household characteristics and traffic data were collected from the Los Angeles in 2010. One-way ANOVA tests indicated that the jobs-housing ratio significantly affects traffic safety in terms of crash frequency at traffic analysis zone (TAZ). To quantify the safety impacts of jobs-housing balance, the semi-parametric geographically weighted Poisson regression (S-GWPR) was further used to link crash frequency at TAZ with jobs-housing ratio and other contributing factors. The S-GWPR provides better fitness to the data than do the generalized linear regression, as the S-GWPR accounts for the spatial heterogeneity. The S-GWPR results showed that the jobs-housing relationship has a significant association with crash frequency at TAZ when the factors of traffic, network, and household characteristics are controlled. Crash frequency at TAZ level increases with an increase in the jobs-housing ratio. To further investigate the interactive effects between jobs-housing ratio and other factors, a comparative analysis was conducted to compare the variable elasticities under different jobs-housing ratios. The results indicate considerable interactive effects that traffic conditions and road network characteristics have different effects on crash frequency under various jobs-housing ratios. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. [Comics for traffic education: evaluation of a traffic safety campaign].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonfadelli, H

    1989-01-01

    Traffic safety campaigns often are ineffective to change driving behavior because they don't reach the target group or are recognized only by people who are already interested or concerned. The evaluation of a traffic safety campaign called "Leo Lässig", addressed to young new drivers, shows that recognition and acceptance by the target group were stimulated by the age-conform means of comic-strips.

  8. Traffic safety developments in Poland : a research note.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oppe, S.

    2001-01-01

    Recently there has been an increased interest in traffic safety in Poland. There is a feeling that the rapid growth of traffic should be accompanied by additional efforts to improve traffic safety, in order to stop the corresponding increase in fatalities and serious accidents. To set realistic

  9. Safety impacts of platform tram stops on pedestrians in mixed traffic operation: A comparison group before-after crash study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naznin, Farhana; Currie, Graham; Logan, David; Sarvi, Majid

    2016-01-01

    Tram stops in mixed traffic environments present a variety of safety, accessibility and transport efficiency challenges. In Melbourne, Australia the hundred year-old electric tram system is progressively being modernized to improve passenger accessibility. Platform stops, incorporating raised platforms for level entry into low floor trams, are being retro-fitted system-wide to replace older design stops. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety impacts of platform stops over older design stops (i.e. Melbourne safety zone tram stops) on pedestrians in the context of mixed traffic tram operation in Melbourne, using an advanced before-after crash analysis approach, the comparison group (CG) method. The CG method evaluates safety impacts by taking into account the general trends in safety and the unobserved factors at treatment and comparison sites that can alter the outcomes of a simple before-after analysis. The results showed that pedestrian-involved all injury crashes reduced by 43% after platform stop installation. This paper also explores a concern that the conventional CG method might underestimate safety impacts as a result of large differences in passenger stop use between treatment and comparison sites, suggesting differences in crash risk exposure. To adjust for this, a modified analysis explored crash rates (crash counts per 10,000 stop passengers) for each site. The adjusted results suggested greater reductions in pedestrian-involved crashes after platform stop installation: an 81% reduction in pedestrian-involved all injury crashes and 86% reduction in pedestrian-involved FSI crashes, both are significant at the 95% level. Overall, the results suggest that platform stops have considerable safety benefits for pedestrians. Implications for policy and areas for future research are explored. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. INTEGRATED SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Kharchenko

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the analysis of the researches conducted in the field of safety management systems.Safety management system framework, methods and tools for safety analysis in Air Traffic Control have been reviewed.Principles of development of Integrated safety management system in Air Traffic Services have been proposed.

  11. Modelling the effects of road traffic safety measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Meng

    2006-05-01

    A model is presented for assessing the effects of traffic safety measures, based on a breakdown of the process in underlying components of traffic safety (risk and consequence), and five (speed and conflict related) variables that influence these components, and are influenced by traffic safety measures. The relationships between measures, variables and components are modelled as coefficients. The focus is on probabilities rather than historical statistics, although in practice statistics may be needed to find values for the coefficients. The model may in general contribute to improve insight in the mechanisms between traffic safety measures and their safety effects. More specifically it allows comparative analysis of different types of measures by defining an effectiveness index, based on the coefficients. This index can be used to estimate absolute effects of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) related measures from absolute effects of substitutional (in terms of safety effects) infrastructure measures.

  12. Using Traffic Conflict Method in Evaluating Traffic Safety at the Reconstructed Intersection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zdravko Bukljaš

    2002-05-01

    Full Text Available As part of organised social system, traffic is subjected togeneral social tendency towards adequate safety and sustainabilityof relations in such a system, probabilistically marked bythe risk of danger. Inte1polation of subjective factor facilitatesthe occwTence of negative phenomena. Road traffic system ischaracterised by extremely massive participation in traffic, contributingthus to a greater possibility of negative features characteristicfor imperfect human mechanism. This is precisely thereason why this paper deals with the problem of traffic safety onthe concrete example of the intersection between the SavskaStreet and the Slavonska and LjubljanskaAvenues over the periodof time prior to constmcting the new unde1pass solution,and the period of time immediately after the construction workswere completed. The used data have been provided by the TrafficPolice Department - Lucko.

  13. 76 FR 8400 - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Petition for Exemption From the Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard; Mitsubishi Motors AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Grant of petition for exemption. SUMMARY: This...

  14. Indicators for traffic safety assessment and prediction and their application in micro-simulation modelling : a study of urban and suburban intersections

    OpenAIRE

    Archer, Jeffery

    2005-01-01

    In order to achieve sustainable long-term transport infrastructure development, there is a growing need for fast, reliable and effective methods to evaluate and predict the impact of traffic safety measures. Recognising this need, and the need for an active traffic safety approach, this thesis focuses on traffic safety assessment and prediction based on the use of safety indicators that measure the spatial and/or temporal proximity of safety critical events. The main advantage of such measure...

  15. Urban street structure and traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohan, Dinesh; Bangdiwala, Shrikant I; Villaveces, Andres

    2017-09-01

    This paper reports the influence of road type and junction density on road traffic fatality rates in U.S. cities. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) files were used to obtain fatality rates for all cities for the years 2005-2010. A stratified random sample of 16 U.S. cities was taken, and cities with high and low road traffic fatality rates were compared on their road layout details (TIGER maps were used). Statistical analysis was done to determine the effect of junction density and road type on road traffic fatality rates. The analysis of road network and road traffic crash fatality rates in these randomly selected U.S. cities shows that, (a) higher number of junctions per road length was significantly associated with a lower motor- vehicle crash and pedestrian mortality rates, and, (b) increased number of kilometers of roads of any kind was associated with higher fatality rates, but an additional kilometer of main arterial road was associated with a significantly higher increase in total fatalities. When compared to non-arterial roads, the higher the ratio of highways and main arterial roads, there was an association with higher fatality rates. These results have important implications for road safety professionals. They suggest that once the road and street structure is put in place, that will influence whether a city has low or high traffic fatality rates. A city with higher proportion of wider roads and large city blocks will tend to have higher traffic fatality rates, and therefore in turn require much more efforts in police enforcement and other road safety measures. Urban planners need to know that smaller block size with relatively less wide roads will result in lower traffic fatality rates and this needs to be incorporated at the planning stage. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Retrospect and prospect of “Traffic Safety Education” in Kagawa Prefecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takeo Ihara

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to explain why we have conducted “Traffic Safety Education” in the Kagawa Prefecture during the past ten years so as to clarify the important factors for preventing painful traffic accidents in advance. To meet this aim, we firstly clarify the reason why we eventually decided to conduct “Traffic Safety Education” in the Kagawa Prefecture. In other words, the organization of powerful actors and/or leaders to cope with traffic accidents plays a very important role in “Traffic Safety Education.” Then, we specifically describe the essential parts of our “Traffic Safety Education”. In this respect, we have decided to select the following two aims: to reduce the number of traffic accidents, and to improve traffic manners, respectively. Thirdly, we evaluate various measures, such as teaching materials, teaching methods, and other activities of our “Traffic Safety Education” in detail. Lastly, we summarize the remaining tasks, which have been revealed so far, together with some concluding remarks.

  17. 32 CFR 234.17 - Vehicles and traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicles and traffic safety. 234.17 Section 234...) MISCELLANEOUS CONDUCT ON THE PENTAGON RESERVATION § 234.17 Vehicles and traffic safety. (a) In general. Unless... an alcoholic beverage. (1) Each person within a vehicle is responsible for complying with the...

  18. 32 CFR 1903.4 - Vehicles and traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicles and traffic safety. 1903.4 Section 1903... CONDUCT ON AGENCY INSTALLATIONS § 1903.4 Vehicles and traffic safety. (a) Open container of alcoholic beverage. (1) Each person within the vehicle is responsible for complying with the provisions of this...

  19. A comedy on TV to promote traffic safety.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wittink, R.D. Nelissen, W.J.A. & Hagenzieker, M.P.

    1990-01-01

    Since the end of 1987, a television-series has been promoting traffic safety in the Netherlands. This series named `The Oudenrijn-family' after a well-known traffic junction, is a comedy that treats important road safety themes in a casual and playful way. The members of the TV family, and their

  20. Studying the Safety Impact of Autonomous Vehicles Using Simulation-Based Surrogate Safety Measures

    OpenAIRE

    Morando, Mark Mario; Tian, Qingyun; Truong, Long T.; Vu, Hai L.

    2018-01-01

    Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology has advanced rapidly in recent years with some automated features already available in vehicles on the market. AVs are expected to reduce traffic crashes as the majority of crashes are related to driver errors, fatigue, alcohol, or drugs. However, very little research has been conducted to estimate the safety impact of AVs. This paper aims to investigate the safety impacts of AVs using a simulation-based surrogate safety measure approach. To this end, safety...

  1. Transport safety and traffic forecasting: An economist's perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth Button

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper is concerned with forecasting traffic accidents at a relatively aggregate level and over a long time period; the sort of information that is required as part of a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of a major transportation investment or policy change. It is not so focused on appraising the social value of specific safety measures, although some of the points made seem germane. Whereas there has been much ex ante analysis at the meso- and macro-levels looking at the causes of accidents and ways of reducing both their number and severity, much less ex post has been done considering the accuracy of predictions of accident rates after an investment or policy initiative. Given the evidence that exists on the accuracy of traffic forecasts, especially involving oft over-optimistic predictions of public transit and rail use, there is at least a prima facie case for arguing that many investment and policy decisions are being based, in part, on over favorable assumptions with regard to their aggregate safety impacts.

  2. Alcohol and Traffic Safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dickman, Frances Baker, Ed.

    1988-01-01

    Seven papers discuss current issues and applied social research concerning alcohol traffic safety. Prevention, policy input, methodology, planning strategies, anti-drinking/driving programs, social-programmatic orientations of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Kansas Driving Under the Influence Law, New Jersey Driving While Impaired Programs,…

  3. The importance of spatial orientation and knowledge of traffic signs for children's traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trifunović, Aleksandar; Pešić, Dalibor; Čičević, Svetlana; Antić, Boris

    2017-05-01

    Pre-school children, as well as children from lower grades in primary school, who although rarely, completely independently participate in traffic, represent a vulnerable population from the standpoint of traffic safety. The greatest number of children were injured or killed in road traffic crashes on their way from home to kindergarten or school. Mostly due to lack of experience, children's behavior is confusing and often reckless and hasty. Safe behavior in the traffic environment demands certain cognitive skills. Unlike adults, children have less than fully developed peripheral vision. Also, changes occur in color perception, i.e. discrimination. All this leads to the conclusion that the stage of physical and mental development of the child is very important for safe participation in traffic. So, to estimate if they are sufficiently equipped to participate safely in traffic, a sensitive test for young children that may be suitable for their level of cognitive development is required. Accordingly, road safety education should be arranged in such a way that considers the child's level of development, as has been shown to be more effective when started at younger ages. Play is the most natural and easiest way of learning because it is the lens through which children experience their world, and the world of others. Having this in mind, if we want to measure the abilities of a child, and their preparedness for safety participation in traffic, unavoidable is to use non-verbal tests. The purpose of this study is to explore primary schooler's spatial, and abilities of color perception and memorization, as well as their performances in interpreting the meaning of traffic signs. In addition, neighborhood environmental correlates (rural-urban) and possible individual differences influences on the relationship among these abilities was examined. Knowledge about these factors affecting children's safety can be applied to improve relevant intervention measures for promoting

  4. 75 FR 22317 - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of Motor Vehicle Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-28

    ... 1300 [Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0054] Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of Motor Vehicle Safety AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of..., multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, incomplete vehicles, motorcycles, and motor vehicle...

  5. Time series modeling in traffic safety research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavrenz, Steven M; Vlahogianni, Eleni I; Gkritza, Konstantina; Ke, Yue

    2018-08-01

    The use of statistical models for analyzing traffic safety (crash) data has been well-established. However, time series techniques have traditionally been underrepresented in the corresponding literature, due to challenges in data collection, along with a limited knowledge of proper methodology. In recent years, new types of high-resolution traffic safety data, especially in measuring driver behavior, have made time series modeling techniques an increasingly salient topic of study. Yet there remains a dearth of information to guide analysts in their use. This paper provides an overview of the state of the art in using time series models in traffic safety research, and discusses some of the fundamental techniques and considerations in classic time series modeling. It also presents ongoing and future opportunities for expanding the use of time series models, and explores newer modeling techniques, including computational intelligence models, which hold promise in effectively handling ever-larger data sets. The information contained herein is meant to guide safety researchers in understanding this broad area of transportation data analysis, and provide a framework for understanding safety trends that can influence policy-making. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. The traffic climate in China: The mediating effect of traffic safety climate between personality and dangerous driving behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qian; Ge, Yan; Qu, Weina; Zhang, Kan; Sun, Xianghong

    2018-04-01

    Traffic safety climate is defined as road users' attitudes and perceptions of traffic in a specific context at a given point in time. The current study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Traffic Climate Scale (TCS) and to explore its relation to drivers' personality and dangerous driving behavior. A sample of 413 drivers completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), the Chinese version of the TCS, the Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI) and a demographic questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to confirm a three-factor (external affective demands, internal requirements and functionality) solution of the TCS. The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of TCS were verified. More importantly, the results showed that the effect of personality on dangerous driving behavior was mediated by traffic climate. Specifically, the functionality of the TCS mediated the effect of neuroticism on negative cognitive/emotional driving and drunk driving, while openness had an indirect impact on aggressive driving, risky driving and drunk driving based on the internal requirements of the TCS. Additionally, agreeableness had a negative direct impact on four factors of the DDDI, while neuroticism had a positive direct impact on negative cognitive/emotional driving, drunk driving and risky driving. In conclusion, the Chinese version of the TCS will be useful to evaluate drivers' attitudes towards and perceptions of the requirements of traffic environment in which they participate and will also be valuable for comparing traffic cultures and environments in different countries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Arizona Traffic Safety Education, K-8. Passenger Safety, Grade 3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesa Public Schools, AZ.

    One in a series designed to assist Arizona elementary and junior high school teachers in developing children's traffic safety skills, this curriculum guide contains four lessons and an appendix of school bus safety tips for use in grade 3. Introductory information provided for the teacher includes basic highway safety concepts, stressing…

  8. INTELLIGENT TRAFFIC-SAFETY MIRROR BY USING WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Danišovič

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This article is focused on the problematic of traffic safety, dealing with the problem of car intersections with blocked view crossing by a special wireless sensor network (WSN proposed for the traffic monitoring, concretely for vehicle’s detection at places, where it is necessary. Some ultra-low-power TI products were developed due to this reason: microcontroller MSP430F2232, 868MHz RF transceiver CC1101 and LDO voltage regulator TPS7033. The WSN consist of four network nodes supplied with the special safety lightings which serve the function of intelligent traffic safety mirror.

  9. Modernizing the Professional Capabilities of Driving Instructors and Traffic Safety Teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kolarov Ivan

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The effective traffic safety training is a long process; it starts from very young age and continues throughout life. This is not only a process of acquiring knowledge and skills, but also a matter of social importance. Pedagogical forms of education depend on the position of a man in society, respectively, on abilities to percept the environment. The recent investigations of traffic accidents show, that the young drivers generally have poorer than average self-reflection skills. It is therefore important to foster self-reflection skills and attitudes from an early age, especially in matters that relate to road and driving safety. All of staff that have career in traffic safety training (mainly instructors for driving and traffic safety teachers in Europe have their responsibility for decreasing the traffic accidents and incidents by polishing their skills. They work under variety conditions, specific National Lows and Regulations, but the features of their target groups are one and the same. In order to meet the new challenges put by EU Commission they need to have common vision about traffic safety training in Europe, to know what traffic safety means for different age groups, to know what is the best practice of their colleagues, including curricula, methods, training materials, and to be aware their work is very important for traffic safety. Aim of this paper is to present an approach for non-formal instructors for driving and traffic safety teachers training for modernizing their professional capabilities with students form 0 to 30 years old. The investigations and main results are based on the theoretical investigation for hierarchical level of behavior, made by Hatakka for instructors for driving training. The students are divided in four age groups: pre-school children (0-6 years, schoolchildren (7-12 years, teenagers (13-17 years and young adults (18-30 years. For each age group a curriculum is developed according to common EU rules and

  10. 75 FR 76692 - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of Motor Vehicle Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-09

    ..., 510, 511, 512, 520, 523, 525, 526, and 571 [Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0159] Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of Motor Vehicle Safety AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety... that specifically relate to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers...

  11. An analysis of the traffic safety phenomenon.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Asmussen, E. & Kranenburg, A.

    1982-01-01

    The lack of traffic safety is a combination of the critical coincidence of circumstances in the traffic of incidents (near-accidents) and accidents with unwanted (permanent) consequences, such as fatalities, injured and disabled persons and material damage. This definition covers the whole of the

  12. Safety analysis of urban signalized intersections under mixed traffic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    S, Anjana; M V L R, Anjaneyulu

    2015-02-01

    This study examined the crash causative factors of signalized intersections under mixed traffic using advanced statistical models. Hierarchical Poisson regression and logistic regression models were developed to predict the crash frequency and severity of signalized intersection approaches. The prediction models helped to develop general safety countermeasures for signalized intersections. The study shows that exclusive left turn lanes and countdown timers are beneficial for improving the safety of signalized intersections. Safety is also influenced by the presence of a surveillance camera, green time, median width, traffic volume, and proportion of two wheelers in the traffic stream. The factors that influence the severity of crashes were also identified in this study. As a practical application, the safe values of deviation of green time provided from design green time, with varying traffic volume, is presented in this study. This is a useful tool for setting the appropriate green time for a signalized intersection approach with variations in the traffic volume. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Environmental problems related to winter traffic safety conditions

    OpenAIRE

    Hääl, Maire-Liis; Sürje, Peep

    2006-01-01

    The changeable Nordic climate has added problems to road maintenance and the environment to ensure traffic safety under winter conditions. The widespread use of salt (NaCl) for snow and ice removal from roads has resulted in environmental impacts in many areas. Some of the problems associated with the use of NaCl are the corrosion of bridges, road surfaces and vehicles and damage to roadside vegetation and aquatic system that are affected by water from de-iced roads. Accumulation of hard meta...

  14. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... of Top Deadly Mistakes Made by Teen Drivers -- AAA AAA: Road debris causes avoidable crashes, deaths Save the ... and 500 deaths! Foundation News Stay Tuned New AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety website coming Fall 2017 ...

  15. Analysis of Traffic Safety Factors at Level Rail-Road Crossings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomislav Mlinarić

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the main factors of traffic safety andreliabilityat level crossings. The number and causes of accidentsare stated, that result from ignorance, insufficient training ofthe traffic participants, their ilnsponsibility and insufficient orincomplete legislation, as well as from insufficiently professionaland scientifically not serious enough approach to solvingthis cardinal problem in road and railway traffic. Based on theanalysis the causes are determined and solutions proposed, aswell as more efficient methods to improve safety and reduce thenumber of traffic accidents at level crossings.

  16. Engineering Solutions to Enhance Traffic Safety Performance on Two-Lane Highways

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lina Wu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Improving two-lane highway traffic safety conditions is of practical importance to the traffic system, which has attracted significant research attention within the last decade. Many cost-effective and proactive solutions such as low-cost treatments and roadway safety monitoring programs have been developed to enhance traffic safety performance under prevailing conditions. This study presents research perspectives achieved from the Highway Safety Enhancement Project (HSEP that assessed safety performance on two-lane highways in Beijing, China. Potential causal factors are identified based on proposed evaluation criteria, and primary countermeasures are developed against inferior driving conditions such as sharp curves, heavy gradients, continuous downgrades, poor sight distance, and poor clear zones. Six cost-effective engineering solutions were specifically implemented to improve two-lane highway safety conditions, including (1 traffic sign replacement, (2 repainting pavement markings, (3 roadside barrier installation, (4 intersection channelization, (5 drainage optimization, and (6 sight distance improvement. The effectiveness of these solutions was examined and evaluated based on Empirical Bayes (EB models. The results indicate that the proposed engineering solutions effectively improved traffic safety performance by significantly reducing crash occurrence risks and crash severities.

  17. Automatic road traffic safety management system in urban areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oskarbski Jacek

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Traffic incidents and accidents contribute to decreasing levels of transport system reliability and safety. Traffic management and emergency systems on the road, using, among others, automatic detection, video surveillance, communication technologies and institutional solutions improve the organization of the work of various departments involved in traffic and safety management. Automation of incident management helps to reduce the time of a rescue operation as well as of the normalization of the flow of traffic after completion of a rescue operation, which also affects the reduction of the risk of secondary accidents and contributes to reducing their severity. The paper presents the possibility of including city traffic departments in the process of incident management. The results of research on the automatic incident detection in cities are also presented.

  18. Is vehicle automation enough to prevent crashes? Role of traffic operations in automated driving environments for traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Eunbi; Oh, Cheol; Lee, Seolyoung

    2017-07-01

    Automated driving systems (ADSs) are expected to prevent traffic accidents caused by driver carelessness on freeways. There is no doubt regarding this safety benefit if all vehicles in the transportation system were equipped with ADSs; however, it is implausible to expect that ADSs will reach 100% market penetration rate (MPR) in the near future. Therefore, the following question arises: 'Can ADSs, which consider only situations in the vicinity of an equipped vehicle, really contribute to a significant reduction in traffic accidents?' To address this issue, the interactions between equipped and unequipped vehicles must be investigated, which is the purpose of this study. This study evaluated traffic safety at different MPRs based on a proposed index to represent the overall rear-end crash risk of the traffic stream. Two approaches were evaluated for adjusting longitudinal vehicle maneuvers: vehicle safety-based maneuvering (VSM), which considers the crash risk of an equipped vehicle and its neighboring vehicles, and traffic safety-based maneuvering (TSM), which considers the overall crash risk in the traffic stream. TSM assumes that traffic operational agencies are able to monitor all the vehicles and to intervene in vehicle maneuvering. An optimization process, which attempts to obtain vehicle maneuvering control parameters to minimize the overall crash risk, is integrated into the proposed evaluation framework. The main purpose of employing the optimization process for vehicle maneuvering in this study is to identify opportunities to improve traffic safety through effective traffic management rather than developing a vehicle control algorithm that can be implemented in practice. The microscopic traffic simulator VISSIM was used to simulate the freeway traffic stream and to conduct systematic evaluations based on the proposed methodology. Both TSM and VSM achieved significant reductions in the potential for rear-end crashes. However, TSM obtained much greater

  19. Studying the Safety Impact of Autonomous Vehicles Using Simulation-Based Surrogate Safety Measures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark Mario Morando

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Autonomous vehicle (AV technology has advanced rapidly in recent years with some automated features already available in vehicles on the market. AVs are expected to reduce traffic crashes as the majority of crashes are related to driver errors, fatigue, alcohol, or drugs. However, very little research has been conducted to estimate the safety impact of AVs. This paper aims to investigate the safety impacts of AVs using a simulation-based surrogate safety measure approach. To this end, safety impacts are explored through the number of conflicts extracted from the VISSIM traffic microsimulator using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM. Behaviours of human-driven vehicles (HVs and AVs (level 4 automation are modelled within the VISSIM’s car-following model. The safety investigation is conducted for two case studies, that is, a signalised intersection and a roundabout, under various AV penetration rates. Results suggest that AVs improve safety significantly with high penetration rates, even when they travel with shorter headways to improve road capacity and reduce delay. For the signalised intersection, AVs reduce the number of conflicts by 20% to 65% with the AV penetration rates of between 50% and 100% (statistically significant at p<0.05. For the roundabout, the number of conflicts is reduced by 29% to 64% with the 100% AV penetration rate (statistically significant at p<0.05.

  20. Analysis of air safety in the European system of air traffic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    О.Є. Луппо

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available  Article describes air traffic safety provision requirements in the Air Traffic Management system of Europe. Consideration of air traffic variation which affecting the air traffic management operations have been reviewed.

  1. Macroscopic models for traffic safety.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oppe, S.

    1988-01-01

    Recently there has been an increased interest in the application of macroscopic models for the description of developments in traffic safety. A discussion was started on the causes of the sudden decrease in the number of fatal and injury accidents after 1974. Before that time these numbers had

  2. State Traffic Safety Information - 2010-2015 FARS Accident File data

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — The State Traffic Safety Information (STSI) portal is part of the larger Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Encyclopedia. STSI provides state-by-state traffic...

  3. Improvement of driving safety in road traffic system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ke-Ping; Gao, Zi-You

    2005-05-01

    A road traffic system is a complex system in which humans participate directly. In this system, human factors play a very important role. In this paper, a kind of control signal is designated at a given site (i.e., signal point) of the road. Under the effect of the control signal, the drivers will decrease their velocities when their vehicles pass the signal point. Our aim is to transit the traffic flow states from disorder to order and then improve the traffic safety. We have tested this technique for the two-lane traffic model that is based on the deterministic Nagel-Schreckenberg (NaSch) traffic model. The simulation results indicate that the traffic flow states can be transited from disorder to order. Different order states can be observed in the system and these states are safer.

  4. 77 FR 24560 - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Electric Vehicle Safety Technical Symposium

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Electric Vehicle... discuss safety considerations for electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. The... vehicles. Electric vehicles show great promise as an innovative and fuel- efficient option for American...

  5. U18 : Traffic signal safety (phase B).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-08-01

    Efficiently scheduling traffic, particularly heavy vehicles, remains a key challenge in transportation engineering. This project has focused on the development of a novel trafficsignal-control methodology to improve the safety of heavy vehicles on...

  6. The impact of medicinal drugs on traffic safety: a systematic review of epidemiological studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orriols, Ludivine; Salmi, Louis-Rachid; Philip, Pierre; Moore, Nicholas; Delorme, Bernard; Castot, Anne; Lagarde, Emmanuel

    2009-08-01

    To evaluate the quality of epidemiological research into effects of medicinal drugs on traffic safety and the current knowledge in this area. The bibliographic search was done in Medline electronic database using the keywords: ((accident* or crash*) and traffic and drug*) leading to 1141 references. Additional references were retrieved from the Safetylit website and the reference lists of selected studies. Original articles published in English or French, between 1 April 1979 and 31 July 2008, were considered for inclusion. We excluded descriptive studies, studies limited to alcohol or illicit drug involvement and investigations of injuries other than from traffic crashes. Studies based on laboratory tests, driving simulators or on-the-road driving tests were also excluded. Eligible studies had to evaluate the causal relationship between the use of medicinal drugs and the risk of traffic crashes. Study quality was assessed by two independent experts, according to a grid adapted from the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) statement. Twenty two studies of variable methodological quality were included. Definition of drug exposure varied across studies and depended on the data sources. Potential confounding due to the interaction between the effects of the medicinal drug and disease-related symptoms was often not controlled. The risk of motor-vehicle crashes related to benzodiazepines has been amply studied and demonstrated. Results for other medicinal drugs remain controversial. There is a need for large studies, investigating the role of individual substances in the risk of road traffic crashes. Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Modem Communications Systems Development Guidelines in Function of Air Traffic Safety ...

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petar Obradović

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available The communications requirements in air traffic control areincreasing in complexity. From the middle 90s, huge progress inairport infrastructure, especially in air traffic control systems,has been made in Bosnia and Herzegovina in damage rehabilitation,caused by war conflicts, owing, first of all, to the EuropeanUnion aid that contributed to the re-establishment of regularinternational air traffic. The current air traffic control systemhas matured in its functionality. Therefore, the phase of advancementand preparation for the technological improvementis the next logical step. However, before establishing a new communicationsstrategy, the current application trends have to beanalyzed in details according to the existing communicationsenvironment interfaces. The goal of this work is to find theguidelines of technological development that will result in moreefficiency, safety and economic benefit in the near future, butthe air traffic safety must not be compromised by economicbenefit.

  8. Pedestrian Safety in Road Traffic in Poland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budzynski, Marcin; Jamroz, Kazimierz; Mackun, Tomasz

    2017-10-01

    Every third road accident in Poland involves a pedestrian as a participant or, most of the time, a casualty. Pedestrian accidents are usually the result of complex situations and the outcome of a number of factors related to driver and pedestrian behaviour and road infrastructure. Safety depends largely on how well the traffic condition is perceived and on visibility in traffic. The paper presents the results of analyses of methodologies for systematic studies of pedestrian behaviour and pedestrian-driver relations. The effects of the location of the site, type of cross-section and other selected parameters on pedestrian and driver behaviour are demonstrated. The analyses showed that pedestrians are most often put at risk by too long pedestrian crossings, vehicles going too fast around pedestrian crossings, lack of proper sight distance and poorly lit or unlit pedestrian crossings. The reason for such defective infrastructure is that planners, designers, contractors and maintenance services are not receiving any support from design, marking and maintenance regulations for pedestrian traffic. In addition, the Road Traffic Law is not restrictive enough when it comes to drivers’ obligations towards pedestrian safety. Polish design regulations allow long pedestrian crossings up to four lanes in one direction or three lanes in two directions irrespective of traffic control and speed limits. Pedestrian crossings should be kept at a maximum of three lanes. There is nothing in the design regulations about the required driver-pedestrian sight distance. Neither does the Road Traffic Law help engineers with that. It is legal to park vehicles within 10 m of a pedestrian crossing which does not guarantee the necessary sight distance. Drivers must be able to see a pedestrian waiting or stepping onto the crossing from a distance that will help them come to a stop safely. It is safer to follow the principle of providing adequate pedestrian sight distance. Recommendations for

  9. Change in neighborhood traffic safety: does it matter in terms of physical activity?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongeneel-Grimen, Birthe; Busschers, Wim; Droomers, Mariël; van Oers, Hans A. M.; Stronks, Karien; Kunst, Anton E.

    2013-01-01

    There is limited evidence on the causality of previously observed associations between neighborhood traffic safety and physical activity (PA). This study aims to contribute to this evidence by assessing the extent to which changes over time in neighborhood traffic safety were associated with PA.

  10. Driving behaviours, traffic risk and road safety: comparative study between Malaysia and Singapore.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Saif ur Rehman; Khalifah, Zainab Binti; Munir, Yasin; Islam, Talat; Nazir, Tahira; Khan, Hashim

    2015-01-01

    The present study aims to investigate differences in road safety attitude, driver behaviour and traffic risk perception between Malaysia and Singapore. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among a sample of Singaporean (n = 187) and Malaysian (n = 313) road users. The data was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling applied to measure comparative fit indices of Malaysian and Singaporean respondents. The results show that the perceived traffic risk of Malaysian respondents is higher than Singaporean counterparts. Moreover, the structural equation modelling has confirmed perceived traffic risk performing the role of full mediation between perceived driving skills and perceived road safety for both the countries, while perceived traffic skills was found to perform the role of partial mediation between aggression and anxiety, on one hand, and road safety, on the other hand, in Malaysia and Singapore. In addition, in both countries, a weak correlation between perceived driving skills, aggression and anxiety with perceived road safety was found, while a strong correlation exists with traffic risk perception. The findings of this study have been discussed in terms of theoretical, practical and conceptual implications for both scholars and policy-makers to better understand the young drivers' attitude and behaviour relationship towards road safety measures with a view to future research.

  11. A safety assessment methodology applied to CNS/ATM-based air traffic control system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vismari, Lucio Flavio, E-mail: lucio.vismari@usp.b [Safety Analysis Group (GAS), School of Engineering at University of Sao Paulo (Poli-USP), Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, Trav.3, n.158, Predio da Engenharia de Eletricidade, Sala C2-32, CEP 05508-900, Sao Paulo (Brazil); Batista Camargo Junior, Joao, E-mail: joaocamargo@usp.b [Safety Analysis Group (GAS), School of Engineering at University of Sao Paulo (Poli-USP), Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, Trav.3, n.158, Predio da Engenharia de Eletricidade, Sala C2-32, CEP 05508-900, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

    2011-07-15

    In the last decades, the air traffic system has been changing to adapt itself to new social demands, mainly the safe growth of worldwide traffic capacity. Those changes are ruled by the Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) paradigm , based on digital communication technologies (mainly satellites) as a way of improving communication, surveillance, navigation and air traffic management services. However, CNS/ATM poses new challenges and needs, mainly related to the safety assessment process. In face of these new challenges, and considering the main characteristics of the CNS/ATM, a methodology is proposed at this work by combining 'absolute' and 'relative' safety assessment methods adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in ICAO Doc.9689 , using Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets (FSPN) as the modeling formalism, and compares the safety metrics estimated from the simulation of both the proposed (in analysis) and the legacy system models. To demonstrate its usefulness, the proposed methodology was applied to the 'Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcasting' (ADS-B) based air traffic control system. As conclusions, the proposed methodology assured to assess CNS/ATM system safety properties, in which FSPN formalism provides important modeling capabilities, and discrete event simulation allowing the estimation of the desired safety metric.

  12. A safety assessment methodology applied to CNS/ATM-based air traffic control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vismari, Lucio Flavio; Batista Camargo Junior, Joao

    2011-01-01

    In the last decades, the air traffic system has been changing to adapt itself to new social demands, mainly the safe growth of worldwide traffic capacity. Those changes are ruled by the Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) paradigm , based on digital communication technologies (mainly satellites) as a way of improving communication, surveillance, navigation and air traffic management services. However, CNS/ATM poses new challenges and needs, mainly related to the safety assessment process. In face of these new challenges, and considering the main characteristics of the CNS/ATM, a methodology is proposed at this work by combining 'absolute' and 'relative' safety assessment methods adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in ICAO Doc.9689 , using Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets (FSPN) as the modeling formalism, and compares the safety metrics estimated from the simulation of both the proposed (in analysis) and the legacy system models. To demonstrate its usefulness, the proposed methodology was applied to the 'Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcasting' (ADS-B) based air traffic control system. As conclusions, the proposed methodology assured to assess CNS/ATM system safety properties, in which FSPN formalism provides important modeling capabilities, and discrete event simulation allowing the estimation of the desired safety metric.

  13. Driver and vehicle type parameters' contribution to traffic safety in UAE

    OpenAIRE

    Alkheder,Sharaf A.; Sabouni,Reem; El Naggar,Hany; Sabouni,Abdul Rahim

    2013-01-01

    Former traffic safety studies showed clearly that driver or human factor is a major contributor to road accidents. Hence, to better understand the traffic accident nature it's so vital to analyze all characteristics related to drivers involved in these accidents. This article focuses on this aspect through using a dataset representing UAE traffic accidents in the time interval between 2007 and 2010. A major focus was given in this article to analyzing the relation between traffic accidents an...

  14. Road traffic safety in conjunction with in-vehicle ITS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darja TOPOLŠEK

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Interest in Intelligent Transportation Systems comes from the problems caused by traffic congestion, road accidents and air pollution. Traffic congestion continues to grow worldwide as a result of increased motorization, population growth, changes in population density and urbanization. Interest in ITS can also be attributed to reducing road accidents and increasing traffic safety. The most common causes for road accidents are excessive speed, inattentive driving and ignorance of the right-of-way rules. To eliminate these causes, experience, knowledge of traffic regulations and a new car are not enough – vehicle safety systems have to take part as well. Therefore, the European Union issued a directive on the installation of intelligent systems, whose functions are active support during driving, warning the driver in dangerous situations and alerting passengers of the car in case of irregularities in motor function or actions carried out by the driver that may cause danger, such as swerving while falling asleep. These systems help drivers to avoid accidents, and in the event of a collision, an emergency call is automatically made. Furthermore, they can be used to regulate traffic patterns or to reduce engine performance, which would reduce pollution. With these benefits in mind, the EU has indicated to the automotive industry that installation of these new Intelligent Transportation Systems should be mandatory in their new vehicles.

  15. Safety and economic impacts of photo radar program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Greg

    2005-12-01

    Unsafe speed is one of the major traffic safety challenges facing motorized nations. In 2003, unsafe speed contributed to 31 percent of all fatal collisions, causing a loss of 13,380 lives in the United States alone. The economic impact of speeding is tremendous. According to NHTSA, the cost of unsafe speed related collisions to the American society exceeds 40 billion US dollars per year. In response, automated photo radar speed enforcement programs have been implemented in many countries. This study assesses the economic impacts of a large-scale photo radar program in British Columbia. The knowledge generated from this study could inform policy makers and project managers in making informed decisions with regard to this highly effective and efficient, yet very controversial program. This study establishes speed and safety effects of photo radar programs by summarizing two physical impact investigations in British Columbia. It then conducts a cost-benefit analysis to assess the program's economic impacts. The cost-benefit analysis takes into account both societal and funding agency's perspectives. It includes a comprehensive account of major impacts. It uses willingness to pay principle to value human lives saved and injuries avoided. It incorporates an extended sensitivity analysis to quantify the robustness of base case conclusions. The study reveals an annual net benefit of approximately 114 million in year 2001 Canadian dollars to British Columbians. The study also finds a net annual saving of over 38 million Canadian dollars for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) that funded the program. These results are robust under almost all alternative scenarios tested. The only circumstance under which the net benefit of the program turns negative is when the real safety effects were one standard deviation below the estimated values, which is possible but highly unlikely. Automated photo radar traffic safety enforcement can be an effective and efficient

  16. Assessment of Traffic Noise Impacts

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rich, Jeppe Husted; Nielsen, Otto Anker

    2004-01-01

    A steady growth in traffic intensities in most urban areas throughout the world has forced planners and politicians to seriously consider the resulting environmental impact, such as traffic noise, accidents and air pollution. The assessment of such negative factors is needed in order to reveal...... the true social benefit of infrastructure plans. The paper presents a noise assessment model for the Copenhagen region, which brings together GIS technology and non-linear hedonic regression models to reveal the implicit costs of traffic noise measured as the marginal percentage loss in property values...

  17. Traffic Safety and Vehicle Choice: Quantifying the Effects of the "Arms Race" on American Roads

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Shanjun

    2009-01-01

    The increasing market share of light trucks in the U.S. in recent years has been characterized as an “arms race” where individual purchase of light trucks for better self-protection in collisions nevertheless leads to worse traffic safety for the society. This paper investigates the interrelation between traffic safety and vehicle choice by quantifying the effects of the arms race on vehicle demand, producer performance, and traffic safety. The empirical analysis shows that the accident exter...

  18. Economic development, mobility and traffic accidents in Algeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bougueroua, M; Carnis, L

    2016-07-01

    The aim of this contribution is to estimate the impact of road economic conditions and mobility on traffic accidents for the case of Algeria. Using the cointegration approach and vector error correction model (VECM), we will examine simultaneously short term and long-term impacts between the number of traffic accidents, fuel consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) per capital, over the period 1970-2013. The main results of the estimation show that the number of traffic accidents in Algeria is positively influenced by the GDP per capita in the short and long term. It implies that a higher economic development worsens the road safety situation. However, the new traffic rules adopted in 2009 have an impact on the forecast trend of traffic accidents, meaning efficient public policy could improve the situation. This result calls for a strong political commitment with effective countermeasures for avoiding the further deterioration of road safety record in Algeria. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Impacts of Traffic Noise and Traffic Volume on Birds of Roadside Habitats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirsten M. Parris

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Roadside habitats are important for a range of taxa including plants, insects, mammals, and birds, particularly in developed countries in which large expanses of native vegetation have been cleared for agriculture or urban development. Although roadside vegetation may provide suitable habitat for many species, resident animals can be exposed to high levels of traffic noise, visual disturbance from passing vehicles, and the risk of collision with cars and trucks. Traffic noise can reduce the distance over which acoustic signals such as song can be detected, an effect known as acoustic interference or masking. Studies from the northern hemisphere show that the singing behavior of birds changes in the presence of traffic noise. We investigated the impact of traffic noise and traffic volume on two species of birds, the Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica and the Grey Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa, at 58 roadside sites on the Mornington Peninsula, southeastern Australia. The lower singing Grey Shrike-thrush sang at a higher frequency in the presence of traffic noise, with a predicted increase in dominant frequency of 5.8 Hz/dB of traffic noise, and a total effect size of 209 Hz. In contrast, the higher singing Grey Fantail did not appear to change its song in traffic noise. The probability of detecting each species on a visit to a site declined substantially with increasing traffic noise and traffic volume, with several lines of evidence supporting a larger effect of traffic noise. Traffic noise could hamper detection of song by conspecifics, making it more difficult for birds to establish and maintain territories, attract mates and maintain pair bonds, and possibly leading to reduced breeding success in noisy roadside habitats. Closing key roads during the breeding season is a potential, but untested, management strategy to protect threatened bird species from traffic noise and collision with vehicles at the time of year when they are most

  20. ANALYSIS ON THE INFLUENCE OF ACCUMULATION EFFECT OF LANDSCAPE COLOR ON TRAFFIC SAFETY IN THE FOGGY SECTIONS OF EXPRESSWAYS

    OpenAIRE

    Xilei Li; Boming Tang; Qianghui Song

    2017-01-01

    The landscape color of expressways has a significant impact on a driver's visual response, thus affecting the incidence of expressways traffic accidents. Although this problem has been analyzed and discussed from different angles, there is rare quantitative analysis on the influence of accumulation effect of landscape color on the traffic safety in foggy sections of expressways. In this paper, the color combination and stroboflash of fog lamps on both sides of the road were designed from the ...

  1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 1995 customer satisfaction survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-05-01

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a national Customer Satisfaction Survey in response to the requirements of the National Performance Review and Executive Order 12862. An independent research organization, Schulman,...

  2. Cost benefit study of a safety campaign's impact on road safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stojanová, Hana; Blašková, Veronika

    2018-04-28

    The aim of this paper is to identify a break in the development trend of the time series of the number of fatal, light and heavy injuries in traffic accidents and compare the progress caused by the media campaign named "Think or you'll pay! "in the Czech Republic over the period 2000-2015. The campaign focuses on the age group of drivers under the age of 25 and the most common cause of their traffic accidents as the drivers in this age category are the most vulnerable group in road traffic. The campaign uses a method in which it tries to influence behaviour by negative action, or by causing negative emotions. The authors concentrate on the effects of mass media campaigns in the long-term development of accidents in the Czech Republic and a financial evaluation of the road safety campaign "Think or you'll pay! "by comparing the campaign costs, the cost of road fatalities, and the cost savings from the perspective of government expenditures. The secondary source data for the chart analysis and interpolation according to the criteria of analytical and mechanical balancing time series, the Chow test and Quandt Likelihood Ratio test, choosing the appropriate model trend of accidents and consequences of traffic accidents were obtained from the Czech Ministry of Transport, the database of The Losses due to Traffic Accident Rates (CZRSO) and the Czech Association of Victims of Traffic Accidents (CSODN, 2015) from period of 1990 till 2016. The impact of the media campaign "Think or you'll pay!", measured by enumerating the costs was compared with the number of fatalities in the years immediately after the campaign and the impact of the media campaign was evaluated and recognised. The conclusion and the highlights summarize the findings of research and the limits of media campaign evaluation approach. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration : 1997 customer satisfaction survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-03-13

    In 1995, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted its first Customer Satisfaction Survey in response to the requirements of the National Performance Review and Executive Order 12862. An independent research organization, S...

  4. Impact of daylight saving time on road traffic collision risk: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carey, Rachel N; Sarma, Kiran M

    2017-07-02

    Bills have been put forward in the UK and Republic of Ireland proposing a move to Central European Time (CET). Proponents argue that such a change will have benefits for road safety, with daylight being shifted from the morning, when collision risk is lower, to the evening, when risk is higher. Studies examining the impact of daylight saving time (DST) on road traffic collision risk can help inform the debate on the potential road safety benefits of a move to CET. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the impact of DST on collision risk. Major electronic databases were searched, with no restrictions as to date of publication (the last search was performed in January 2017). Access to unpublished reports was requested through an international expert group. Studies that provided a quantitative analysis of the effect of DST on road safety-related outcomes were included. The primary outcomes of interest were road traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities. Twenty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen examined the short-term impact of transitions around DST and 12 examined long-term effects. Findings from the short-term studies were inconsistent. The long-term findings suggested a positive effect of DST. However, this cannot be attributed solely to DST, as a range of road collision risk factors vary over time. The evidence from this review cannot support or refute the assertion that a permanent shift in light from morning to evening will have a road safety benefit. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  5. Traffic Safety of Older Drivers in Various Types of Road Intersections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomaž Tollazzi

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available In industrialized countries people over 50 years of age represent a rapidly growing part of population. Their lifestyle is also becoming more active, which means that the percentage of older drivers in the population of all drivers is also increasing. Many different studies have shown that elderly drivers are more frequently involved in specific types of accidents, especially at intersections. In the past 15 years there was a trend of increasing popularity of roundabouts in Slovenia. Their introduction was generally supported by the arguments of increased traffic-flow capacity and traffic safety as well. The studies on which these arguments are based were performed with an “ideal” type of driver in mind; the one that fully understands new rules and reacts correctly in all situations that may occur at such intersections, where there are no light signals to guide them. An elderly person does not necessarily conform to that ideal and if the percentage of elderly drivers became significant, the premises of the above mentioned studies may not be correct anymore which in turn implies that their results could also be questioned. The present study concentrated on the evaluation of traffic safety of elderly drivers, at various types of intersection, from their own perspective. Various statistical analyses of obtained data were performed. The most important finding was that we may claim, with high degree of probability, that the average person of the age of over 60 feels more unsafe at double-lane roundabouts than they would feel had the same intersection been equipped with traffic lights. Elderly traffic participants will always cause more accidents or participate in them due to hazardous factors. Challenge, arising from many different studies and researches, is in studying what measures and solutions can reduce the risk for elderly participants. KEYWORDS: traffic safety, road intersections, roundabouts, elderly people, older drivers

  6. Analysis and comparison of safety models using average daily, average hourly, and microscopic traffic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ling; Abdel-Aty, Mohamed; Wang, Xuesong; Yu, Rongjie

    2018-02-01

    There have been plenty of traffic safety studies based on average daily traffic (ADT), average hourly traffic (AHT), or microscopic traffic at 5 min intervals. Nevertheless, not enough research has compared the performance of these three types of safety studies, and seldom of previous studies have intended to find whether the results of one type of study is transferable to the other two studies. First, this study built three models: a Bayesian Poisson-lognormal model to estimate the daily crash frequency using ADT, a Bayesian Poisson-lognormal model to estimate the hourly crash frequency using AHT, and a Bayesian logistic regression model for the real-time safety analysis using microscopic traffic. The model results showed that the crash contributing factors found by different models were comparable but not the same. Four variables, i.e., the logarithm of volume, the standard deviation of speed, the logarithm of segment length, and the existence of diverge segment, were positively significant in the three models. Additionally, weaving segments experienced higher daily and hourly crash frequencies than merge and basic segments. Then, each of the ADT-based, AHT-based, and real-time models was used to estimate safety conditions at different levels: daily and hourly, meanwhile, the real-time model was also used in 5 min intervals. The results uncovered that the ADT- and AHT-based safety models performed similar in predicting daily and hourly crash frequencies, and the real-time safety model was able to provide hourly crash frequency. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. A Particle System for Safety Verification of Free Flight in Air Traffic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blom, H.A.P.; Krystul, J.; Bakker, G.J.

    2006-01-01

    Under free flight, an aircrew has both the freedom to select their trajectory and the responsibility of resolving conflicts with other aircraft. The general belief is that free flight can be made safe under low traffic conditions. Increasing traffic, however, raises safety verification issues. This

  8. Safety Impacts of the Actuated Signal Control at Urban Intersections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sang Hyuk Lee

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available To reduce travel time, the actuated signal controls have been implemented at urban intersections. However, the safety impacts of actuated signal controls thus far have rarely been examined. In this assessment of the safety impact of urban intersections with semi-actuated signal controls, the safety performance functions and EB approaches were applied. The semi-actuated signal controls have increased injuries and total crashes in all crash types by around 5.9% and 3.8%, respectively. Regarding the most common crash types, such as angle, sideswipe & rear-end, and head-on crashes, semi-actuated signal controls have been seen to decrease injuries by 7.7%. Total crashes have been reduced by over 9.2% through the use of semi-actuated signal controls. This may be result of optimal signal timings considering traffic conditions during peak time periods. In conclusion, safety impact factors which have been established in this study can be used to improve safety and minimize travel times using semi-actuated signal controls.

  9. Some aspects of traffic safety in residential areas.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraay, J.H. & Wegman, F.C.M.

    1977-01-01

    In the framework of international co-operation within OECD Research Group Traffic Safety in Residential areas the Netherlands have accepted the task of collecting Dutch data for a report. As far as Dutch research exists for the various chapters and sections of the complete report, this can be found

  10. Effects of scale and efficiency of rural traffic calming on safety, accessibility and wildlife

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jaarsma, C.F.; Langevelde, van F.

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines the effects of scale and efficiency of regional traffic calming on traffic safety, rural accessibility, and survival of wildlife. We distinguish by the scale of road networks affected and considered the efficiencies of various bundling of traffic flows on designated routes.

  11. Traffic safety analysis of powered two-wheelers (PTWs) in Slovenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Šraml, Matjaž; Tollazzi, Tomaž; Renčelj, Marko

    2012-11-01

    Due to the 2006 European research report on powered two-wheelers (PTWs) riders' traffic safety, Slovenia represents the highest risk for PTW riders in the European Union. Namely, in Slovenia we have the largest number of PTW riders' deaths per billion travelled kilometers in 2006. Since then the traffic safety situation in the field of PTW riders in Slovenia has been improving and we will discuss that phenomenon in the present paper. The paper identifies and analyzes the causes that led to such a critical situation. Further, the evaluation of activities that were carried out to improve the road safety for powered two-wheeler riders in Slovenia in the last past years are discussed. In conclusion a selection of measures and actions is presented that already has been and also should be carried out in the future. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Use of agent based simulation for traffic safety assessment

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Conradie, Dirk CU

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the development of an agent based Computational Building Simulation (CBS) tool, termed KRONOS that is being used to work on advanced research questions such as traffic safety assessment and user behaviour in buildings...

  13. Key Problems of Fire Safety Enforcement in Traffic and Communication Centers (TCC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medyanik, M.; Zosimova, O.

    2017-10-01

    A Traffic and Communication Center (TCC) means facilities designed and used to distribute and redirect flows of humans and motor vehicles while they get serviced and operate. This paper sets forth the basic problems of fire safety enforcement on the TCC, and the causes that slow down human and vehicle traffic speeds. It proposes ways to solve the problems of fire safety enforcement on the TCC, in the Russian Federation and elsewhere. Engineering solutions are proposed for TCC design, with key outlooks of TCC future development as an alternative way to organize access in transportation.

  14. Zolpidem and traffic safety - the importance of treatment compliance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verster, Joris C; Volkerts, Edmund R; Olivier, Berend; Johnson, William; Liddicoat, Laura

    2007-09-01

    Zolpidem is among the most frequently prescribed hypnotic drugs for those who suffer from insomnia. Recent media reports drew attention to driving impairment after zolpidem misuse. This review summarizes the available data on the effects of recommended use and misuse of zolpidem on driving ability and traffic safety. Both experimental studies and roadside evidence were taken into account. From these studies it must be concluded that patients should fully comply with the prescription instructions of zolpidem, i.e. to take the medication just prior to a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. If this strategy is adopted, zolpidem is a safe alternative to benzodiazpine hypnotics and zopiclone who do show significant driving impairment the morning following bedtime administration. However, to ensure traffic safety higher dosages than recommended (10 mg) or allowing less than 8 hours between zolpidem intake and actual operation of a motor vehicle should be avoided.

  15. IMPACTS OF GROUP-BASED SIGNAL CONTROL POLICY ON DRIVER BEHAVIOR AND INTERSECTION SAFETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keshuang TANG

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Unlike the typical stage-based policy commonly applied in Japan, the group-based control (often called movement-based in the traffic control industry in Japan refers to such a control pattern that the controller is capable of separately allocating time to each signal group instead of stage based on traffic demand. In order to investigate its applicability at signalized intersections in Japan, an intersection located in Yokkaichi City of Mie Prefecture was selected as an experimental application site by the Japan Universal Traffic Management Society (UTMS. Based on the data collected at the intersection before and after implementing the group-based control policy respectively, this study evaluated the impacts of such a policy on driver behavior and intersection safety. To specify those impacts, a few models utilizing cycle-based data were first developed to interpret the occurrence probability and rate of red-light-running (RLR. Furthermore, analyses were performed on the yellow-entry time (Ye of the last cleared vehicle and post encroachment time (PET during the phase switching. Conclusions supported that the group-based control policy, along with certain other factors, directly or indirectly influenced the RLR behavior of through and right-turn traffics. Meanwhile, it has potential safety benefits as well, indicated by the declined Ye and increased PET values.

  16. Modeling the Environmental Impact of Air Traffic Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Neil

    2011-01-01

    There is increased interest to understand and mitigate the impacts of air traffic on the climate, since greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxides, and contrails generated by air traffic can have adverse impacts on the climate. The models described in this presentation are useful for quantifying these impacts and for studying alternative environmentally aware operational concepts. These models have been developed by leveraging and building upon existing simulation and optimization techniques developed for the design of efficient traffic flow management strategies. Specific enhancements to the existing simulation and optimization techniques include new models that simulate aircraft fuel flow, emissions and contrails. To ensure that these new models are beneficial to the larger climate research community, the outputs of these new models are compatible with existing global climate modeling tools like the FAA's Aviation Environmental Design Tool.

  17. Urban planning, traffic planning and traffic safety of pedestrians and cyclists : report presented to the 1979 Road Research Symposium on Safety of Pedestrians and Cyclists, OECD Headquarters, Paris, 14-16 May 1979. Session III: Physical Countermeasures; Subsession III.1: Urban planning and traffic planning.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wegman, F.C.M.

    1979-01-01

    The traffic safety of pedestrians and cyclists can be improved by means of urban planning and traffic planning, as one of the possibilities. This paper discusses the framework of these measures and activities and also the effects on the field of traffic planning. Chapter I show that it is not

  18. Simulation Study of the Effect of Decreasing Truck Traffic Flow on Safety on Almeria-Barcelona Corridor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dadashova, B.

    2016-07-01

    In this paper the effect of truck traffic on road safety has been analyzed through simulation study. The main objective of the study is to quantify the effect of the decreasing average annual daily traffic of heavy duty vehicles (trucks) on road safety. As the road safety indicators the frequency road accidents is considered. The data used in the study were collected from one of the most crowded routes in Spain which connects Almeria (south-east) with Barcelona (northeast). The observed data covers year 2010 and were classified into 2 road types: dual carriageways and toll roads. The estimation was carried out using negative binomial model and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. Using the estimation results new traffic scenarios were proposed where the traffic flow is assumed to change its values. A total of 33 scenarios were proposed and new accidents data were generated through MCMC sampling. The comparison of the simulated and observed accident data shows that the effect of decreasing truck traffic flow could meliorate road safety in the route. The simulation tool could be applied to evaluate the effects of freight modal shift from road to rail. (Author)

  19. Statistical modelling of traffic safety development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christens, Peter

    2004-01-01

    there were 6861 injury trafficc accidents reported by the police, resulting in 4519 minor injuries, 3946 serious injuries, and 431 fatalities. The general purpose of the research was to improve the insight into aggregated road safety methodology in Denmark. The aim was to analyse advanced statistical methods......, that were designed to study developments over time, including effects of interventions. This aim has been achieved by investigating variations in aggregated Danish traffic accident series and by applying state of the art methodologies to specific case studies. The thesis comprises an introduction...

  20. Fine-Tuning ADAS Algorithm Parameters for Optimizing Traffic ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    With the development of the Connected Vehicle technology that facilitates wirelessly communication among vehicles and road-side infrastructure, the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) can be adopted as an effective tool for accelerating traffic safety and mobility optimization at various highway facilities. To this end, the traffic management centers identify the optimal ADAS algorithm parameter set that enables the maximum improvement of the traffic safety and mobility performance, and broadcast the optimal parameter set wirelessly to individual ADAS-equipped vehicles. After adopting the optimal parameter set, the ADAS-equipped drivers become active agents in the traffic stream that work collectively and consistently to prevent traffic conflicts, lower the intensity of traffic disturbances, and suppress the development of traffic oscillations into heavy traffic jams. Successful implementation of this objective requires the analysis capability of capturing the impact of the ADAS on driving behaviors, and measuring traffic safety and mobility performance under the influence of the ADAS. To address this challenge, this research proposes a synthetic methodology that incorporates the ADAS-affected driving behavior modeling and state-of-the-art microscopic traffic flow modeling into a virtually simulated environment. Building on such an environment, the optimal ADAS algorithm parameter set is identified through an optimization programming framework to enable th

  1. INFLUENCE OF PLANNING, ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND REGULATION ON ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY OF PEDESTRIANS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. M. Kuharenok

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents results of research on planning, organizational characteristics and regulation modes at  the regulated pedestrian crossings, located out of crossroads in the street and road network of Minsk. Some regularities pertaining to the influence of the investigated characteristics on road traffic safety of pedestrians are revealed in the paper. Practical offers on increase of road traffic safety of pedestrians in the Republic of Belarus have been developed on the basis of the executed investigations and cited in the paper. 

  2. Traffic safety and step-by-step driving licence for young people

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tønning, Charlotte; Agerholm, Niels

    2017-01-01

    presents a review of safety effects from step-by-step driving licence schemes. Most of the investigated schemes consist of a step-by-step driving licence with Step 1) various tests and education, Step 2) a period where driving is only allowed together with an experienced driver and Step 3) driving without...... companion is allowed but with various restrictions and, in some cases, additional driving education and tests. In general, a step-by-step driving licence improves traffic safety even though the young people are permitted to drive a car earlier on. The effects from driving with an experienced driver vary......Young novice car drivers are much more accident-prone than other drivers - up to 10 times that of their parents' generation. A central solution to improve the traffic safety for this group is implementation of a step-by-step driving licence. A number of countries have introduced a step...

  3. Study on Driver Visual Physiological Characteristics in Urban Traffic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fengyuan Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In the integrated traffic environment, human factor is always a main factor of the three elementary factors, besides the vehicle and road factor. The driver physiological and psychological characteristics have an important impact especially on traffic safety in urban road traffic conditions. Some typical traffic scenes in condition of urban road, such as light signal control at intersection, overtaking, and passing, are selected for condition analysis. An eye movement apparatus was used to obtain driver eye closure, blink frequency, and other visual physiological indicators in the traffic conditions of urban road. The regular patterns of driver visual characteristics in the corresponding scenes were analyzed in detail to provide data and theoretical support for the further research on traffic safety of urban environment from the viewpoint of driver psychology and behavior.

  4. Safety impacts of red light cameras at signalized intersections based on cellular automata models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chai, C; Wong, Y D; Lum, K M

    2015-01-01

    This study applies a simulation technique to evaluate the hypothesis that red light cameras (RLCs) exert important effects on accident risks. Conflict occurrences are generated by simulation and compared at intersections with and without RLCs to assess the impact of RLCs on several conflict types under various traffic conditions. Conflict occurrences are generated through simulating vehicular interactions based on an improved cellular automata (CA) model. The CA model is calibrated and validated against field observations at approaches with and without RLCs. Simulation experiments are conducted for RLC and non-RLC intersections with different geometric layouts and traffic demands to generate conflict occurrences that are analyzed to evaluate the hypothesis that RLCs exert important effects on road safety. The comparison of simulated conflict occurrences show favorable safety impacts of RLCs on crossing conflicts and unfavorable impacts for rear-end conflicts during red/amber phases. Corroborative results are found from broad analysis of accident occurrence. RLCs are found to have a mixed effect on accident risk at signalized intersections: crossing collisions are reduced, whereas rear-end collisions may increase. The specially developed CA model is found to be a feasible safety assessment tool.

  5. Variable Speed Limits: Strategies to Improve Safety and Traffic Parameters for a Bottleneck

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Z. Hasanpour

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The primary purpose of the speed limit system is to enforce reasonable and safe speed. To reduce secondary problems such as accidents and queuing, Variable Speed Limits (VSL has been suggested. In this paper VSL is used to better safety and traffic parameters. Traffic parameters including speed, queue length and stopping time have been pondering. For VLS, an optimization decision tree algorithm with the function of microscopic simulation was used. The results in case of sub saturated, saturated and supersaturated at a bottleneck are examined and compared with the Allaby logic tree. The results show that the proposed decision tree shows an improved performance in terms of safety and comfort along the highway. The VSL pilot project is part of the Road Safety Improvement Program included in Iran’s road safety action plan that is in the research process in the BHRC Research Institute, Road and Housing & Urban Development Research that is planned for next 10-year Transportation safety view Plan.

  6. Impact of Bimodal Traffic on Latency in Optical Burst Switching Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuhua Chen

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the impact of bimodal traffic composition on latency in optical burst switching networks. In particular, it studies the performance degradation to short-length packets caused by longer packets, both of which are part of a heterogeneous traffic model. The paper defines a customer satisfaction index for each of the classes of traffic, and a composite satisfaction index. The impact of higher overall utilization of the network as well as that of the ratio of the traffic mix on each of the customer satisfaction indices is specifically addressed.

  7. Evaluating the Impacts of Red Light Camera Deployment on Intersection Traffic Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-06-01

    Red-light cameras (RLC) are a popular countermeasure to reduce red-light running and improve intersection safety. Studies show that the reduction in side impact crashes at RLC intersections are often accompanied by no-change or an increase in the num...

  8. Culture related to road traffic safety: a comparison of eight countries using two conceptualizations of culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordfjærn, Trond; Şimşekoğlu, Özlem; Rundmo, Torbjorn

    2014-01-01

    The majority of previous cross-country studies of human factors relevant to traffic safety have not operationalized and measured culture. Also studies in this vein have mostly been carried out in Europe and the United States. The aim of the study was to examine country cluster differences, based on the Culture's Consequences framework, in road traffic risk perception, attitudes towards traffic safety and driver behaviour in samples from Norway, Russia, India, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Turkey and Iran. An additional aim was to examine cluster differences in road traffic culture as symbol use and to investigate whether this theoretical cultural framework predicts risk perception, attitudes towards traffic safety and driver behaviour in the country clusters. The sample consisted of a total of 2418 individuals who were obtained by convenience sampling in the different countries. The countries segmented into four Culture's Consequences clusters; Norway, Russia and India, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Near East countries. The findings showed that Norwegians reported overall safer attitudes towards traffic safety and driver behaviour than the remaining country clusters. Individuals in Africa reported the highest risk perception. The countries also differed substantially in road traffic culture as symbol use. Contrary to established cultural theory, prediction models revealed that cultural factors were stronger predictors of driver behaviour than of risk perception. Also, the social cognitive risk constructs (i.e. risk perception and attitudes) solely explained variance in driver behaviour in the Norwegian and Russia/India clusters. Previous empirical efforts, which aimed to demonstrate that culture is important for the risk perception criterion, may have focused on a criterion variable that is not strongly related to driver behaviour. Furthermore, countermeasures aimed to influence social cognition may have stronger applicability in countries with a more individualistic western

  9. Road accident rates: strategies and programmes for improving road traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goniewicz, K; Goniewicz, M; Pawłowski, W; Fiedor, P

    2016-08-01

    Nowadays, the problem of road accident rates is one of the most important health and social policy issues concerning the countries in all continents. Each year, nearly 1.3 million people worldwide lose their life on roads, and 20-50 million sustain severe injuries, the majority of which require long-term treatment. The objective of the study was to identify the most frequent, constantly occurring causes of road accidents, as well as outline actions constituting a basis for the strategies and programmes aiming at improving traffic safety on local and global levels. Comparative analysis of literature concerning road safety was performed, confirming that although road accidents had a varied and frequently complex background, their causes have changed only to a small degree over the years. The causes include: lack of control and enforcement concerning implementation of traffic regulation (primarily driving at excessive speed, driving under the influence of alcohol, and not respecting the rights of other road users (mainly pedestrians and cyclists), lack of appropriate infrastructure and unroadworthy vehicles. The number of fatal accidents and severe injuries, resulting from road accidents, may be reduced through applying an integrated approach to safety on roads. The strategies and programmes for improving road traffic should include the following measures: reducing the risk of exposure to an accident, prevention of accidents, reduction in bodily injuries sustained in accidents, and reduction of the effects of injuries by improvement of post-accident medical care.

  10. Noise abatement and traffic safety: The trade-off of quieter engines and pavements on vehicle detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendonça, C; Freitas, E; Ferreira, J P; Raimundo, I D; Santos, J A

    2013-03-01

    Road traffic sounds are a major source of noise pollution in urban areas. But recent developments such as low noise pavements and hybrid/electric engine vehicles cast an optimistic outlook over such an environmental problem. However, it can be argued that engine, tire, and road noise could be relevant sources of information to avoid road traffic conflicts and accidents. In this paper, we analyze the potential trade-offs of traffic-noise abatement approaches in an experimental study, focusing for the first time on the impact and interaction of relevant factors such as pavement type, vehicle type, listener's age, and background noise, on vehicle detection levels. Results reveal that vehicle and pavement type significantly affect vehicle detection. Age is a significant factor, as both younger and older people exhibit lower detection levels of incoming vehicles. Low noise pavements combined with all-electric and hybrid vehicles might pose a severe threat to the safety of vulnerable road users. All factors interact simultaneously, and vehicle detection is best predicted by the loudness signal-to-noise ratio. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Valuation of the impacts from road traffic fuels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Otterstroem, T. [Ekono Energy Ltd, Espoo (Finland)

    1995-12-31

    Energy Ltd. participated in 1993 in the MOBILE research programme of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) by carrying out the project `Valuation of the impacts of road traffic fuels emissions`. The project was financed by the MTI, Ekono Energy Ltd and Neste Oy. The aim of the project was to assess the external costs of Finnish road traffic, which are incurred by the environmental effects of fuel related emissions (motor petrol and diesel fuel). To this end, the survey studied the environmental impacts of emissions on people and the environment locally, nationally and globally. The main target was to develop a method for calculating the economic value of these effects. The method has been applied to road traffic emissions in 1990 and emission forecasts for 2000. The valuation calculations made should be regarded as indicative examples. The article presents a possible way of assessing the cost of effects. This kind of review indicates the cost of impacts compared with the cost of reducing emissions. It also indicates the way in which environmental taxes could be developed and reveals those impacts which should be researched and the impacts and emissions components the restricting of which should be enhanced. (author)

  12. Valuation of the impacts from road traffic fuels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Otterstroem, T [Ekono Energy Ltd, Espoo (Finland)

    1996-12-31

    Energy Ltd. participated in 1993 in the MOBILE research programme of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) by carrying out the project `Valuation of the impacts of road traffic fuels emissions`. The project was financed by the MTI, Ekono Energy Ltd and Neste Oy. The aim of the project was to assess the external costs of Finnish road traffic, which are incurred by the environmental effects of fuel related emissions (motor petrol and diesel fuel). To this end, the survey studied the environmental impacts of emissions on people and the environment locally, nationally and globally. The main target was to develop a method for calculating the economic value of these effects. The method has been applied to road traffic emissions in 1990 and emission forecasts for 2000. The valuation calculations made should be regarded as indicative examples. The article presents a possible way of assessing the cost of effects. This kind of review indicates the cost of impacts compared with the cost of reducing emissions. It also indicates the way in which environmental taxes could be developed and reveals those impacts which should be researched and the impacts and emissions components the restricting of which should be enhanced. (author)

  13. Safety in the Air: A Curriculum about Flight and Air Traffic Control Designed for Middle School Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colton, Ted

    This six-lesson unit is designed to familiarize sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students with air traffic safety and the individuals who make air traffic safety possible. Each lesson consists of a statement of the concept fostered, a list of objectives, a brief discussion on the focus of the unit, and instructional strategies for lesson topics…

  14. Safety concepts for the design of transport and traffic facilities for pedestrians, cyclists, children and disabled in urban areas. Contribution to the 5th National Congress on Traffic Safety, Barcelona, Spain, November 24-26, 1982.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Asmussen, E.

    1982-01-01

    The "vulnerable" road users, pedestrians, cyclists, children and disabled in urban -areas mainly are victims of motorised traffic. The intensity and speed of this motorized traffic are the main agents for the unsafety of the "vulnerable" road users. Safety concepts for urban areas should be directed

  15. Models of Weather Impact on Air Traffic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kulkarni, Deepak; Wang, Yao

    2017-01-01

    Flight delays have been a serious problem in the national airspace system costing about $30B per year. About 70 of the delays are attributed to weather and upto two thirds of these are avoidable. Better decision support tools would reduce these delays and improve air traffic management tools. Such tools would benefit from models of weather impacts on the airspace operations. This presentation discusses use of machine learning methods to mine various types of weather and traffic data to develop such models.

  16. Measures to increase traffic law acceptance : some strategic considerations. Paper presented at the 5th European workshop `New developments in traffic safety research', Bern, May 2-3, 1996.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goldenbeld, C.

    1997-01-01

    The set of traffic laws and rules intends to maximise the possibilities for free movement in the traffic system, while at the same time safeguarding road safety. Acceptance of traffic laws depends in part on properties of the laws and rules themselves that determine how they will be perceived or

  17. Impacts of Snowy Weather Conditions on Expressway Traffic Flow Characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiancheng Weng

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Snowy weather will significantly degrade expressway operations, reduce service levels, and increase driving difficulty. Furthermore, the impact of snow varies in different types of roads, diverse cities, and snow densities due to different driving behavior. Traffic flow parameters are essential to decide what should be appropriate for weather-related traffic management and control strategies. This paper takes Beijing as a case study and analyzes traffic flow data collected by detectors in expressways. By comparing the performance of traffic flow under normal and snowy weather conditions, this paper quantitatively describes the impact of adverse weather on expressway volume and average speeds. Results indicate that average speeds on the Beijing expressway under heavy snow conditions decrease by 10–20 km/h when compared to those under normal weather conditions, the vehicle headway generally increases by 2–4 seconds, and the road capacity drops by about 33%. This paper also develops a specific expressway traffic parameter reduction model which proposes reduction coefficients of expressway volumes and speeds under various snow density conditions in Beijing. The conclusions paper provide effective foundational parameters for urban expressway controls and traffic management under snow conditions.

  18. The Mynydd Y Cemmaes windfarm impact study - Volume IIB. Traffic impact: final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edwards, R.; Stevenson, R.

    1995-01-01

    This study, from the Energy Technology Support Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry, looks at the effect on traffic movements of the construction and operation of the Mynydd y Cemmaes windfarm in Powys. The study was conducted before, during and after the construction of the windfarm over a two year period from 1992 to 1994. A large increase in traffic was observed on the unclassified road leading to the windfarm site during its construction phase, and these levels fell during commissioning and fell again during normal operation. Public concern about the traffic impact of the windfarm was then set against the 25% increase in local traffic during the windfarms operational phase. This data will be used to make more accurate predictions of traffic movements likely to occur in future windfarm construction projects. (UK)

  19. 2012 national state safety engineers and traffic engineers peer-to-peer workshop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-01

    The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) sponsored and hosted the : 2012 National State Safety Engineers and Traffic Engineers Peer-to-Peer Workshop on November 14 and 15, 2012, at the : Hyatt ...

  20. Specific features of goal setting in road traffic safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolesov, V. I.; Danilov, O. F.; Petrov, A. I.

    2017-10-01

    Road traffic safety (RTS) management is inherently a branch of cybernetics and therefore requires clear formalization of the task. The paper aims at identification of the specific features of goal setting in RTS management under the system approach. The paper presents the results of cybernetic modeling of the cause-to-effect mechanism of a road traffic accident (RTA); in here, the mechanism itself is viewed as a complex system. A designed management goal function is focused on minimizing the difficulty in achieving the target goal. Optimization of the target goal has been performed using the Lagrange principle. The created working algorithms have passed the soft testing. The key role of the obtained solution in the tactical and strategic RTS management is considered. The dynamics of the management effectiveness indicator has been analyzed based on the ten-year statistics for Russia.

  1. Engineering solutions of traffic safety problems of road transport

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Bogdevičius

    2004-02-01

    Full Text Available The authors of this paper focus on the simulation of the motor vehicle movement (taking into consideration motor vehicle dynamics, motor vehicle hydraulic brake system influence on motor vehicle movement, interaction between its wheels with road pavements, road guardrail characteristics, interaction between motor vehicle and road guardrail on a certain road section and propose their specific solution of this problem. The presented results, illustrating the motor vehicle movement trajectories (motor vehicle braking and interaction between motor vehicle and road guardrail at various initial conditions and at various certain pavement surface of the road section under investigation and work of a motor vehicle hydraulic brake system. Taking into consideration the presented general mathematical model and computer aided test results it is possible to investigate various road transport traffic situations as well as to investigate various transport traffic safety problems.

  2. An assessment of traffic safety culture related to driving after cannabis use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-01

    The purpose of this project was to develop a better understanding of the traffic safety culture (i.e., shared values, beliefs, and : attitudes) of driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC). A survey was developed based on an augmented integrated...

  3. Web application and database modeling of traffic impact analysis using Google Maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yulianto, Budi; Setiono

    2017-06-01

    Traffic impact analysis (TIA) is a traffic study that aims at identifying the impact of traffic generated by development or change in land use. In addition to identifying the traffic impact, TIA is also equipped with mitigation measurement to minimize the arising traffic impact. TIA has been increasingly important since it was defined in the act as one of the requirements in the proposal of Building Permit. The act encourages a number of TIA studies in various cities in Indonesia, including Surakarta. For that reason, it is necessary to study the development of TIA by adopting the concept Transportation Impact Control (TIC) in the implementation of the TIA standard document and multimodal modeling. It includes TIA's standardization for technical guidelines, database and inspection by providing TIA checklists, monitoring and evaluation. The research was undertaken by collecting the historical data of junctions, modeling of the data in the form of relational database, building a user interface for CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) the TIA data in the form of web programming with Google Maps libraries. The result research is a system that provides information that helps the improvement and repairment of TIA documents that exist today which is more transparent, reliable and credible.

  4. Safety perceptions and behavior related to cycling in mixed traffic: A comparison between Brisbane and Copenhagen

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chataway, Elijah Steven; Kaplan, Sigal; Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

    2014-01-01

    -based survey administered among cyclists in the two cities. Elicited items concerned perceived risk of infrastructure layouts, fear of traffic, cycling while distracted, use of safety gear, cycling avoidance due to feeling unsafe, and avoidance to cycle in mixed traffic conditions. The data were analyzed...... with structural equation models. Results show that, in comparison with cyclists in Copenhagen, cyclists in Brisbane perceive mixed traffic infrastructure layouts as less safe, feel more fear of traffic, and are more likely to adopt cycling avoidance as a coping strategy. Results also show that cyclists...

  5. Crash risk and aberrant driving behaviors among bus drivers: the role of personality and attitudes towards traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mallia, Luca; Lazuras, Lambros; Violani, Cristiano; Lucidi, Fabio

    2015-06-01

    Several studies have shown that personality traits and attitudes toward traffic safety predict aberrant driving behaviors and crash involvement. However, this process has not been adequately investigated in professional drivers, such as bus drivers. The present study used a personality-attitudes model to assess whether personality traits predicted aberrant self-reported driving behaviors (driving violations, lapses, and errors) both directly and indirectly, through the effects of attitudes towards traffic safety in a large sample of bus drivers. Additionally, the relationship between aberrant self-reported driving behaviors and crash risk was also assessed. Three hundred and one bus drivers (mean age=39.1, SD=10.7 years) completed a structured and anonymous questionnaire measuring personality traits, attitudes toward traffic safety, self-reported aberrant driving behaviors (i.e., errors, lapses, and traffic violations), and accident risk in the last 12 months. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that personality traits were associated to aberrant driving behaviors both directly and indirectly. In particular altruism, excitement seeking, and normlessness directly predicted bus drivers' attitudes toward traffic safety which, in turn, were negatively associated with the three types of self-reported aberrant driving behaviors. Personality traits relevant to emotionality directly predicted bus drivers' aberrant driving behaviors, without any mediation of attitudes. Finally, only self-reported violations were related to bus drivers' accident risk. The present findings suggest that the hypothesized personality-attitudes model accounts for aberrant driving behaviors in bus drivers, and provide the empirical basis for evidence-based road safety interventions in the context of public transport. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Visual Analysis of Air Traffic Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albrecht, George Hans; Pang, Alex

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we present visual analysis tools to help study the impact of policy changes on air traffic congestion. The tools support visualization of time-varying air traffic density over an area of interest using different time granularity. We use this visual analysis platform to investigate how changing the aircraft separation volume can reduce congestion while maintaining key safety requirements. The same platform can also be used as a decision aid for processing requests for unmanned aerial vehicle operations.

  7. Safety effects of permanent running lights for bicycles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Jens Chr. Overgaard; Andersen, T.; Lahrmann, Harry

    2013-01-01

    , including all recorded bicycle accidents with personal injury to the participating cyclist, is 19% lower for cyclists with permanent running lights mounted; indicating that the permanent bicycle running light significantly improves traffic safety for cyclists. The study shows that use of permanent bicycle......Making the use of daytime running lights mandatory for motor vehicles is generally documented to have had a positive impact upon traffic safety. Improving traffic safety for bicyclists is a focal point in the road traffic safety work in Denmark. In 2004 and 2005 a controlled experiment including...... 3845 cyclists was carried out in Odense, Denmark in order to examine, if permanent running lights mounted to bicycles would improve traffic safety for cyclists. The permanent running lights were mounted to 1845 bicycles and the accident rate was recorded through 12 months for this treatment group...

  8. Road traffic flow and impact on environment in Hyderabad city

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Memon, Zaheer-ud-Din; Ansari, A.K.; Memon, S.A.

    2000-01-01

    In Hyderabad city due to dramatic increase in traffic intensity on the roads, traffic flow have been much beyond the comfortable limits. High values of traffic flow density have been recorded on Court Road (34.05%), Tilak Road (19.87%), Risala Road (22.91%) and Cafe George (23.14%) of Hyderabad city. Above 80% people are found to be annoyed due to traffic congestion, noise and smoke resulting in health ailments. Slow Moving Vehicles (SMVs) comprising of animal and hand drawn vehicles (rehras) cause serious disruption in the traffic stream on city roads, which are ultimately causing traffic-jam condition resulting a serious impact on environment. No definite parking places exist for public vehicles because of encroachment on roads. Proper foot paths are not available for pedestrian, which results in increase in accidents. (author)

  9. Using naturalistic driving data to explore the association between traffic safety-related events and crash risk at driver level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Kun-Feng; Aguero-Valverde, Jonathan; Jovanis, Paul P

    2014-11-01

    There has been considerable research conducted over the last 40 years using traffic safety-related events to support road safety analyses. Dating back to traffic conflict studies from the 1960s these observational studies of driver behavior have been criticized due to: poor quality data; lack of available and useful exposure measures linked to the observations; the incomparability of self-reported safety-related events; and, the difficulty in assessing culpability for safety-related events. This study seeks to explore the relationships between driver characteristics and traffic safety-related events, and between traffic safety-related events and crash involvement while mitigating some of those limitations. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study dataset, in which the participants' vehicles were instrumented with various cameras and sensors during the study period, was used for this study. The study data set includes 90 drivers observed for 12-13 months driving. This study focuses on single vehicle run-off-road safety-related events only, including 14 crashes and 182 safety-related events (30 near crashes, and 152 crash-relevant incidents). Among the findings are: (1) drivers under age 25 are significantly more likely to be involved in safety-related events and crashes; and (2) significantly positive correlations exist between crashes, near crashes, and crash-relevant incidents. Although there is still much to learn about the factors affecting the positive correlation between safety-related events and crashes, a Bayesian multivariate Poisson log-normal model is shown to be useful to quantify the associations between safety-related events and crash risk while controlling for driver characteristics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. DOMAINS OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, WHICH NEED THE SAFETY IMPROVEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dana Procházková

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the railway accidents sources in the Czech Republic on the basis of knowledge on complex system behaviour. It derives seven categories of sources of railway accidents. The individual categories include the accident sources from the same field domain. These domains are: technical related to rail traffic vehicles; technical related to rail infrastructure and railway station; railway operation control – organizational causes; railway operation control – cyber causes; control of rail traffic vehicles; attack on the train; domain legislative and other. The results show that for railway traffic safety improvement, it is necessary to pay attention to all categories, and especially to these that lead to organizational accidents origination.

  11. Game theoretic analysis of congestion, safety and security traffic and transportation theory

    CERN Document Server

    Zhuang, Jun

    2015-01-01

    Maximizing reader insights into the interactions between game theory, excessive crowding and safety and security elements in traffic and transportation theory, this book establishes a new research angle by illustrating linkages between different research approaches and through laying the foundations for subsequent analysis. Congestion (excessive crowding) is defined in this work as all kinds of flows; e.g., road/sea/air traffic, people, data, information, water, electricity, and organisms. Analyzing systems where congestion occurs – which may be in parallel, series, interlinked, or interdependent, with flows one way or both ways – this book puts forward new congestion models, breaking new ground by introducing game theory and safety/security. Addressing the multiple actors who may hold different concerns regarding system reliability; e.g. one or several terrorists, a government, various local or regional government agencies, or others with stakes for or against system reliability, this book describes how ...

  12. Making the Traffic Operations Case for Congestion Pricing: Operational Impacts of Congestion Pricing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chin, Shih-Miao [ORNL; Hu, Patricia S [ORNL; Davidson, Diane [ORNL

    2011-02-01

    Congestion begins when an excess of vehicles on a segment of roadway at a given time, resulting in speeds that are significantly slower than normal or 'free flow' speeds. Congestion often means stop-and-go traffic. The transition occurs when vehicle density (the number of vehicles per mile in a lane) exceeds a critical level. Once traffic enters a state of congestion, recovery or time to return to a free-flow state is lengthy; and during the recovery process, delay continues to accumulate. The breakdown in speed and flow greatly impedes the efficient operation of the freeway system, resulting in economic, mobility, environmental and safety problems. Freeways are designed to function as access-controlled highways characterized by uninterrupted traffic flow so references to freeway performance relate primarily to the quality of traffic flow or traffic conditions as experienced by users of the freeway. The maximum flow or capacity of a freeway segment is reached while traffic is moving freely. As a result, freeways are most productive when they carry capacity flows at 60 mph, whereas lower speeds impose freeway delay, resulting in bottlenecks. Bottlenecks may be caused by physical disruptions, such as a reduced number of lanes, a change in grade, or an on-ramp with a short merge lane. This type of bottleneck occurs on a predictable or 'recurrent' basis at the same time of day and same day of week. Recurrent congestion totals 45% of congestion and is primarily from bottlenecks (40%) as well as inadequate signal timing (5%). Nonrecurring bottlenecks result from crashes, work zone disruptions, adverse weather conditions, and special events that create surges in demand and that account for over 55% of experienced congestion. Figure 1.1 shows that nonrecurring congestion is composed of traffic incidents (25%), severe weather (15%), work zones, (10%), and special events (5%). Between 1995 and 2005, the average percentage change in increased peak traveler

  13. Influence of Ergonomics on Traffic Safety and Economy Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teodor Perić

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available As an interdisciplinary science, ergonomics needs to makethe operating of traffic safer, faster and more reliable, for thesake of higher profitability and generally improved economiceffects. This is achieved by adapting and shaping the workplace,machines, transport means, equipment, physical environment,working process etc. according to experience abouthuman anatomic physica~ sociologica~ intellectual and otherminimal, average or maximal capabilities. Therefore, it is necessaryto analyse ergonomics from the standpoint of better productivenessof humans, greater safety (comfort and security ingeneral.

  14. How can Saudi Arabia use the Decade of Action for Road Safety to catalyse road traffic injury prevention policy and interventions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Turki, Yousef Abdullah

    2014-01-01

    Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults worldwide. Nearly three-quarters of road deaths occur in developing countries and men comprise a mean 80% of casualties. The rate of road traffic accidents caused by four-wheeled vehicles is the highest globally reported road traffic accidents statistic. In Saudi Arabia, the motor vehicle is the main means of transportation with one person killed and four injured every hour. Over 65% of accidents occur because of vehicles travelling at excess speed and/or drivers disobeying traffic signals. Road traffic injuries cause considerable economic losses to victims, their families, and to nations as a whole. Strategic prevention plans should be implemented soon by various sectors (health, police, transport, and education) to decrease the mortality and morbidity among adolescent and young age group. Strong and effective coordination between ministry of health and other ministries together with World Health Organization and other related organisations will be an important step towards implementing the international Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). The aim of this review article is to highlight some aspects of the health impacts of road traffic accidents.

  15. Lower limb and associated injuries in frontal-impact road traffic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Abstract. Objectives: To study the relationship between severity of injury of the lower limb and severity of injury of the head, thoracic, and abdominal regions in frontal-impact road traffic collisions. Methods: Consecutive hospitalised trauma patients who were involved in a frontal road traffic collision were prospectively stud-.

  16. Effects of turning and through lane sharing on traffic performance at intersections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiang; Sun, Jian-Qiao

    2016-02-01

    Turning vehicles strongly influence traffic flows at intersections. Effective regulation of turning vehicles is important to achieve better traffic performance. This paper studies the impact of lane sharing and turning signals on traffic performance at intersections by using cellular automata. Both right-turn and left-turn lane sharing are studied. Interactions between vehicles and pedestrians are considered. The transportation efficiency, road safety and energy economy are the traffic performance metrics. Extensive simulations are carried out to study the traffic performance indices. It is observed that shared turning lanes and permissive left-turn signal improve the transportation efficiency and reduce the fuel consumption in most cases, but the safety is usually sacrificed. It is not always beneficial for the through vehicles when they are allowed to be in the turning lanes.

  17. Evaluating the Influence of Road Lighting on Traffic Safety at Accesses Using An Artificial Neural Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yueru; Ye, Zhirui; Wang, Yuan; Wang, Chao; Sun, Cuicui

    2018-05-18

    This paper focuses on the effect of road lighting on road safety at accesses and tries to quantitatively analyze the relationship between road lighting and road safety. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was applied in this study. This method is one of the most popular machine-learning methods in recent years and does not require any pre-defined assumptions. This method was applied using field data collected from ten road segments in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The results show that the impact of road lighting on road safety at accesses is significant. In addition, road lighting has greater influence when vehicle speeds are higher or the number of lanes is larger. A threshold illuminance was also found in this paper, and the results show that the safety level at accesses will become stable when reaching this value. The improvement of illuminance can decrease the speed variation among vehicles and improve the safety level. In addition, high-grade roads need better illuminance at accesses. A threshold value can also be obtained based on related variables and used to develop scientific guidelines for traffic management organizations.

  18. Human-system safety methods for development of advanced air traffic management systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nelson, William R.

    1999-01-01

    The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is supporting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the development of advanced air traffic management (ATM) systems as part of the Advanced Air Transportation Technologies program. As part of this program INEEL conducted a survey of human-system safety methods that have been applied to complex technical systems, to identify lessons learned from these applications and provide recommendations for the development of advanced ATM systems. The domains that were surveyed included offshore oil and gas, commercial nuclear power, commercial aviation, and military. The survey showed that widely different approaches are used in these industries, and that the methods used range from very high-level, qualitative approaches to very detailed quantitative methods such as human reliability analysis (HRA) and probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). In addition, the industries varied widely in how effectively they incorporate human-system safety assessment in the design, development, and testing of complex technical systems. In spite of the lack of uniformity in the approaches and methods used, it was found that methods are available that can be combined and adapted to support the development of advanced air traffic management systems (author) (ml)

  19. Automated Mixed Traffic Vehicle (AMTV) technology and safety study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, A. R.; Peng, T. K. C.; Vivian, H. C.; Wang, P. K.

    1978-01-01

    Technology and safety related to the implementation of an Automated Mixed Traffic Vehicle (AMTV) system are discussed. System concepts and technology status were reviewed and areas where further development is needed are identified. Failure and hazard modes were also analyzed and methods for prevention were suggested. The results presented are intended as a guide for further efforts in AMTV system design and technology development for both near term and long term applications. The AMTV systems discussed include a low speed system, and a hybrid system consisting of low speed sections and high speed sections operating in a semi-guideway. The safety analysis identified hazards that may arise in a properly functioning AMTV system, as well as hardware failure modes. Safety related failure modes were emphasized. A risk assessment was performed in order to create a priority order and significant hazards and failure modes were summarized. Corrective measures were proposed for each hazard.

  20. Impact of nuclear waste traffic on highways

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sebaaly, P.E.; Siddharthan, R.; Epps, J.A.

    1994-01-01

    A system was developed to evaluate the impact of nuclear waste traffic on the structural performance of highway pavements throughout the state of Nevada. The associated needs of maintenance and rehabilitations can also be evaluated along with their costs. This paper summarizes the system and provides two sample analyses

  1. The impact of environmental factors on traffic accidents in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lankarani, Kamran B; Heydari, Seyed Taghi; Aghabeigi, Mohammad Reza; Moafian, Ghasem; Hoseinzadeh, Amin; Vossoughi, Mehrdad

    2014-07-01

    Road traffic crashes are the third highest cause of mortality in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of roadway environmental factors on traffic crash. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Iran between March 21, 2010 and December 30, 2010. The data on road traffic crashes were obtained from the Traffic Police Department records. These records were classified to control for the main confounders related to the type of crash and roadway environmental factors. Roadway environmental factors included crash scene light, weather, place of accident, the defects and geometrics of roadway and road surface. The study included 542,863 traffic crashes. The proportions of road traffic crash which led to injury were 24.44% at sunrise and 27.16% at sunset compared with 5.43% and 1.43% deaths at sunrise and sunset respectively. In regard to day time accidents, the proportions were 20.50% injuries and 0.55% deaths. The statistical analysis of the results showed that the ratio of injuries and deaths were significantly higher at sunrise and sunset than those occurring during daytime (P less than 0.001). The highest rate of death (5.07%) was due to dusty weather compared to 5.07% for other weather conditions (P less than 0.001). The highest mortality rate (3.45%) occurred on oily surfaces (P less than 0.001). The defective traffic signs were responsible for 30,046 injuries and 5.58% deaths, and road narrowing accounted for 22,775 injuries and, 4.23% deaths which indicated that the roadway defects inflict most frequent injuries and deaths. The lowest (0.74 %) and highest (3.09%) proportion of traffic crash- related deaths were due to flat straight and winding uphill/downhill roads respectively (P less than 0.001). Sunrise, sunset, dusty weather, oily road surfaces and winding uphill/downhill road were hazardous environmental factors. This study provides an insight into the potential impacts of environmental factors on road traffic accidents and underlines the

  2. [Road safety measures and their effects on traffic injuries: a systematic review].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguilera, Sandra Lúcia Vieira Ulinski; Moysés, Simone Tetú; Moysés, Samuel Jorge

    2014-10-01

    To identify and summarize the findings of studies describing interventions aimed at reducing road traffic injuries. An integrative systematic review without meta-analysis was performed. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) were used to synthesize the findings of the articles reviewed. The keywords "traffic accidents", "review" and "public policy" were used in isolation or combined with boolean operator "And" to search PubMed, Web of Science, SciELO, and LILACS for the period between 2006 and 2011 RESULTS: Twenty-two studies were included in the systematic review. Of these, two described engineering strategies, two described other road safety policies, three described education strategies, and 15 described law enforcement policies. Law enforcement had the most effective immediate results. Engineering strategies proved important to promote a safe environment. Finally, education strategies had an informative role and served to support other strategies, but did not seem sufficient to promote cultural changes regarding road safety. Law enforcement seems to be the most effective strategy to change the behavior of drivers, especially regarding speed limits and drinking and driving.

  3. Safety effects of permanent running lights for bicycles

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Jens Chr. Overgaard; Andersen, T.; Lahrmann, Harry

    2013-01-01

    Making the use of daytime running lights mandatory for motor vehicles is generally documented to have had a positive impact upon traffic safety. Improving traffic safety for bicyclists is a focal point in the road traffic safety work in Denmark. In 2004 and 2005 a controlled experiment including...... 3845 cyclists was carried out in Odense, Denmark in order to examine, if permanent running lights mounted to bicycles would improve traffic safety for cyclists. The permanent running lights were mounted to 1845 bicycles and the accident rate was recorded through 12 months for this treatment group...... and 2000 other bicyclists, the latter serving as a control group without bicycle running lights. The safety effect of the running lights is analysed by comparing incidence rates – number of bicycle accidents recorded per man-month – for the treatment group and the control group. The incidence rate...

  4. Traffic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lichtblau, G.

    2001-01-01

    This chapter deals with passenger and freight traffic, public and private transportation, traffic related environmental impacts, future developments, traffic indicators, regional traffic planning, health costs due to road traffic related air pollution, noise pollution, measures and regulations for traffic control and fuels for traffic. In particular energy consumption, energy efficiency, pollutant emissions ( CO 2 , SO 2 , NO x , HC, CO, N 2 O, NH 3 and particulates) and environmental effects of the different types of traffic and different types of fuels are compared and studied. Legal regulations and measures for an effective traffic control are discussed. (a.n.)

  5. Road safety impact assessment RIA : a proposal for tools and procedures for a RIA. A study commissioned by the European Commission DG VII.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wegman, F.C.M. Roszbach, R. Mulder, J.A.G. Schoon, C.C. & Poppe, F.

    1994-01-01

    This study develops a Road Safety Impact Assessment (RIA) tool. RIAs could be made on a more strategic level, and on an individual project or scheme level. On a strategic level, the study suggests to assess safety consequences of changes of traffic over a road network due to infrastructural projects

  6. 30 CFR 56.9100 - Traffic control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Traffic control. 56.9100 Section 56.9100 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR METAL AND NONMETAL MINE... Dumping Traffic Safety § 56.9100 Traffic control. To provide for the safe movement of self-propelled...

  7. Traffic Flow Prediction with Rainfall Impact Using a Deep Learning Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuhan Jia

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Accurate traffic flow prediction is increasingly essential for successful traffic modeling, operation, and management. Traditional data driven traffic flow prediction approaches have largely assumed restrictive (shallow model architectures and do not leverage the large amount of environmental data available. Inspired by deep learning methods with more complex model architectures and effective data mining capabilities, this paper introduces the deep belief network (DBN and long short-term memory (LSTM to predict urban traffic flow considering the impact of rainfall. The rainfall-integrated DBN and LSTM can learn the features of traffic flow under various rainfall scenarios. Experimental results indicate that, with the consideration of additional rainfall factor, the deep learning predictors have better accuracy than existing predictors and also yield improvements over the original deep learning models without rainfall input. Furthermore, the LSTM can outperform the DBN to capture the time series characteristics of traffic flow data.

  8. Crash Prediction and Risk Evaluation Based on Traffic Analysis Zones

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cuiping Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Traffic safety evaluation for traffic analysis zones (TAZs plays an important role in transportation safety planning and long-range transportation plan development. This paper aims to present a comprehensive analysis of zonal safety evaluation. First, several criteria are proposed to measure the crash risk at zonal level. Then these criteria are integrated into one measure-average hazard index (AHI, which is used to identify unsafe zones. In addition, the study develops a negative binomial regression model to statistically estimate significant factors for the unsafe zones. The model results indicate that the zonal crash frequency can be associated with several social-economic, demographic, and transportation system factors. The impact of these significant factors on zonal crash is also discussed. The finding of this study suggests that safety evaluation and estimation might benefit engineers and decision makers in identifying high crash locations for potential safety improvements.

  9. Safety effects of traffic signing for left turn flashing yellow arrow signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schattler, Kerrie L; Gulla, Cody J; Wallenfang, Travis J; Burdett, Beau A; Lund, Jessica A

    2015-02-01

    In 2010, the left turn flashing yellow arrow (FYA) signal displays were installed at signalized intersections on state routes in the Peoria, Illinois, area. Supplemental traffic signs with text "Left Turn Yield on Flashing Yellow Arrow" were mounted on the mast arm adjacent to the left turn signal at over half of the FYA installations. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the effectiveness evaluation of the FYA supplemental sign on safety. Analyses are presented on the effects of the FYA supplemental sign for all drivers and a subset of drivers age 65 and older. A crash-based comparison of 164 FYA approaches including 90 approaches with the sign and 74 approaches without the sign showed greater crash reductions when the supplemental FYA sign was present. The results also showed that crashes involving drivers age 65 and older did not experience the same magnitudes of crash reductions as compared to all drivers. The findings of this research indicate that supplemental FYA signs may help in improving safety for left-turning vehicles during the permissive interval. Thus, it is recommended that supplemental signs be used when initially implementing the FYA, and that effort to educate the driving public on new traffic control be made to further improve safety at signalized intersections. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  10. Evaluating the impact of connectivity, continuity, and topography of sidewalk network on pedestrian safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osama, Ahmed; Sayed, Tarek

    2017-10-01

    With the increasing demand for sustainability, walking is being encouraged as one of the main active modes of transportation. However, pedestrians are vulnerable to severe injuries when involved in crashes which can discourage road users from walking. Therefore, studying factors that affect the safety of pedestrians is important. This paper investigates the relationship between pedestrian-motorist crashes and various sidewalk network indicators in the city of Vancouver. The goal is to assess the impact of network connectivity, directness, and topography on pedestrian safety using macro-level collision prediction models. The models were developed using generalized linear regression and full Bayesian techniques. Both walking trips and vehicle kilometers travelled were used as the main traffic exposure variables in the models. The safety models supported the safety in numbers hypothesis showing a non-linear positive association between pedestrian-motorist crashes and the increase in walking trips and vehicle traffic. The model results also suggested that higher continuity, linearity, coverage, and slope of sidewalk networks were associated with lower crash occurrence. However, network connectivity was associated with higher crash occurrence. The spatial effects were accounted for in the full Bayes models and were found significant. The models provide insights about the factors that influence pedestrian safety and the spatial variability of pedestrian crashes within a city, which can be useful for the planning of pedestrian networks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Traffic signal phasing at intersections to improve safety for alcohol-affected pedestrians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenné, Michael G; Corben, Bruce F; Stephan, Karen

    2007-07-01

    Alcohol-affected pedestrians are among the highest-risk groups involved in pedestrian casualty crashes. This paper investigates the opportunities to use a modified form of traffic signal operation during high-risk periods and at high-risk locations to reduce alcohol-affected pedestrian crashes and the severity of injuries that might otherwise occur. The 'Dwell-on-Red' treatment involves displaying a red traffic signal to all vehicle directions during periods when no vehicular traffic is detected, so that drivers approach high-risk intersections at a lower speed than if a green signal were displayed. Vehicle speed data were collected before and after treatment activation at both a control and treatment site. Speed data were collected both 30 m prior to and at the intersection stop line. The treatment was associated with a reduction in mean vehicle speeds of 3.9 kph (9%) and 11.0 kph (28%) at 30 m and stop line collection points, respectively, and substantial reductions in the proportion of vehicles travelling at threatening speeds with regard to the severity of pedestrian injury. Other important road safety concerns may also benefit from this form of traffic signal modification, and it is recommended that other areas of application be explored, including the other severe trauma categories typically concentrated around signalised intersections.

  12. Integration of Linear Dynamic Emission and Climate Models with Air Traffic Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sridhar, Banavar; Ng, Hok K.; Chen, Neil Y.

    2012-01-01

    Future air traffic management systems are required to balance the conflicting objectives of maximizing safety and efficiency of traffic flows while minimizing the climate impact of aviation emissions and contrails. Integrating emission and climate models together with air traffic simulations improve the understanding of the complex interaction between the physical climate system, carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and aviation activity. This paper integrates a national-level air traffic simulation and optimization capability with simple climate models and carbon cycle models, and climate metrics to assess the impact of aviation on climate. The capability can be used to make trade-offs between extra fuel cost and reduction in global surface temperature change. The parameters in the simulation can be used to evaluate the effect of various uncertainties in emission models and contrails and the impact of different decision horizons. Alternatively, the optimization results from the simulation can be used as inputs to other tools that monetize global climate impacts like the FAA s Aviation Environmental Portfolio Management Tool for Impacts.

  13. Road traffic impact on urban water quality: a step towards integrated traffic, air and stormwater modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fallah Shorshani, Masoud; Bonhomme, Céline; Petrucci, Guido; André, Michel; Seigneur, Christian

    2014-04-01

    Methods for simulating air pollution due to road traffic and the associated effects on stormwater runoff quality in an urban environment are examined with particular emphasis on the integration of the various simulation models into a consistent modelling chain. To that end, the models for traffic, pollutant emissions, atmospheric dispersion and deposition, and stormwater contamination are reviewed. The present study focuses on the implementation of a modelling chain for an actual urban case study, which is the contamination of water runoff by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in the Grigny urban catchment near Paris, France. First, traffic emissions are calculated with traffic inputs using the COPERT4 methodology. Next, the atmospheric dispersion of pollutants is simulated with the Polyphemus line source model and pollutant deposition fluxes in different subcatchment areas are calculated. Finally, the SWMM water quantity and quality model is used to estimate the concentrations of pollutants in stormwater runoff. The simulation results are compared to mass flow rates and concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn measured at the catchment outlet. The contribution of local traffic to stormwater contamination is estimated to be significant for Pb and, to a lesser extent, for Zn and Cd; however, Pb is most likely overestimated due to outdated emissions factors. The results demonstrate the importance of treating distributed traffic emissions from major roadways explicitly since the impact of these sources on concentrations in the catchment outlet is underestimated when those traffic emissions are spatially averaged over the catchment area.

  14. Game theoretic analysis of congestion, safety and security networks, air traffic and emergency departments

    CERN Document Server

    Zhuang, Jun

    2015-01-01

    Maximizing reader insights into the roles of intelligent agents in networks, air traffic and emergency departments, this volume focuses on congestion in systems where safety and security are at stake, devoting special attention to applying game theoretic analysis of congestion to: protocols in wired and wireless networks; power generation, air transportation and emergency department overcrowding. Reviewing exhaustively the key recent research into the interactions between game theory, excessive crowding, and safety and security elements, this book establishes a new research angle by illustrating linkages between the different research approaches and serves to lay the foundations for subsequent analysis. Congestion (excessive crowding) is defined in this work as all kinds of flows; e.g., road/sea/air traffic, people, data, information, water, electricity, and organisms. Analyzing systems where congestion occurs – which may be in parallel, series, interlinked, or interdependent, with flows one way or both way...

  15. IMPROVEMENT OF TRAFFIC SAFETY BY ROAD-VEHICLE COOPERATIVE SMART CRUISE SYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akio HOSAKA

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available Hopes have been pinned on the development of intelligent systems for road traffic as a way of solving road traffic safety and other such issues. To be sure, work is moving ahead with the incorporation of intelligent systems into automobiles but, with automobiles alone, there are limits in areas such as environment recognition. Compensation for the limits imposed by automobiles can be provided by the support given to environment recognition and related areas of road infrastructure. This paper examines the special features of vehicles and road infrastructure, and describes what role is played by roads and what role is played by vehicles. On the basis of the observations made, road-vehicle cooperative support systems called “smart cruise systems”, which are currently being developed, will be introduced and the expected effects of these systems will be outlined.

  16. Fast Times During Spring Breaks: Are Traffic Fatalities Another Consequence?

    OpenAIRE

    French, Michael; Gumus, Gulcin

    2014-01-01

    Every year in the United States, millions of college students travel for spring break, spending billions of dollars. We examine a potential adverse consequence of spring break that has received little attention in the literature - traffic safety. In particular, we estimate the impact of spring break season on fatal passenger vehicle crashes. Using daily county-level longitudinal data on traffic fatalities in popular spring break destinations from 1982-2011, we conduct separate analyses by age...

  17. Towards understanding work-as-done in air traffic management safety assessment and design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woltjer, Rogier; Pinska-Chauvin, Ella; Laursen, Tom; Josefsson, Billy

    2015-01-01

    This paper describes the approach taken and the results to develop guidance, to include Resilience Engineering principles in methodology for safety assessment of functional changes, in Air Traffic Management (ATM). It summarizes the process of deriving resilience principles for ATM, originating from Resilience Engineering concepts and transposed into ATM operations. These principles are the foundation for guidance material incorporating Resilience Engineering (RE) concepts into safety assessment methodology. The guidance material provides a method using workshops generating qualitative descriptions of RE principles applied to ATM services of everyday work, as done currently and as envisioned after introduction of a new technology or way of working. The guidance material has been proposed as part of the safety assessment methodology of SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research), and as stand-alone guidance for ATM design processes. The methodology was validated via a test case on the i4D/CTA (Controlled Time of Arrival) concept. Operational examples from the application of the developed guidance to the i4D/CTA concept are provided. Initial evaluation of the guidance suggests that the methodology (1) provides a narrative, vocabulary and documentation means of project discussions on resilience; (2) brings the discussions of safety and resilience closer to operational practice; (3) facilitates a broader systemic and integrative perspective on operational, management, business, safety, environmental, and human performance aspects; and (4) can extend the vocabulary of safety assessment to include the description of emergent properties, to better support functional changes in ATM. - Highlights: • Guidance material for safety assessment based on systemic thinking is proposed. • It operationalizes Resilience Engineering principles in Air Traffic Management, including a case study. • It enables description of expected changes in work-as-done when introducing a new

  18. A Review of Interventions To Increase Driving Safety among Teenage Drivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattox, John R., II

    Young drivers across the United States represent a persistent traffic safety problem. Many interventions have been imposed on these drivers but few studies have evaluated the impact of these interventions on risky behaviors or traffic safety measures. To fill this gap, a review was undertaken to examine the most rigorous methodological evaluations…

  19. Long-Term Marine Traffic Monitoring for Environmental Safety in the Aegean Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giannakopoulos, T.; Gyftakis, S.; Charou, E.; Perantonis, S.; Nivolianitou, Z.; Koromila, I.; Makrygiorgos, A.

    2015-04-01

    The Aegean Sea is characterized by an extremely high marine safety risk, mainly due to the significant increase of the traffic of tankers from and to the Black Sea that pass through narrow straits formed by the 1600 Greek islands. Reducing the risk of a ship accident is therefore vital to all socio-economic and environmental sectors. This paper presents an online long-term marine traffic monitoring work-flow that focuses on extracting aggregated vessel risks using spatiotemporal analysis of multilayer information: vessel trajectories, vessel data, meteorological data, bathymetric / hydrographic data as well as information regarding environmentally important areas (e.g. protected high-risk areas, etc.). A web interface that enables user-friendly spatiotemporal queries is implemented at the frontend, while a series of data mining functionalities extracts aggregated statistics regarding: (a) marine risks and accident probabilities for particular areas (b) trajectories clustering information (c) general marine statistics (cargo types, etc.) and (d) correlation between spatial environmental importance and marine traffic risk. Towards this end, a set of data clustering and probabilistic graphical modelling techniques has been adopted.

  20. Test and assessment method of Automotive Safety Systems (SSB) particularly to monitor traffic incidents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pijanowski, B.; Łukjanow, S.; Burliński, R.

    2016-09-01

    The rapid development of telematics, particularly mobile telephony (GSM), wireless data transmission (GPRS) and satellite positioning (GPS) noticeable in the last decade, resulted in an almost unlimited growth of the possibilities for monitoring of mobile objects. These solutions are already widely used in the so-called “Intelligent Transport Systems” - ITS and affect a significant increase for road safety. The article describes a method of testing and evaluation of Car Safety Systems (Polish abbreviation - SSB) especially for monitoring traffic incidents, such as collisions and accidents. The algorithm of SSB testing process is also presented. Tests are performed on the dynamic test bench, part of which is movable platform with car security system mounted on it. Crash tests with a rigid obstacle are carried out instead of destructive attempts to crash test of the entire vehicle which is expensive. The tested system, depending on the simulated traffic conditions, is mounted in such a position and with the use of components, indicated by the manufacturer for the automotive safety system installation in a vehicle, for which it is intended. Then, the tests and assessments are carried out.

  1. Fine-Tuning ADAS Algorithm Parameters for Optimizing Traffic Safety and Mobility in Connected Vehicle Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    With the development of Connected Vehicle Technology that facilitates wireless communication among vehicles and road-side infrastructure, the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) can be adopted as an effective tool for accelerating traffic safety and mobility optimization at...

  2. Investigating the traffic-related environmental impacts of hydraulic-fracturing (fracking) operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodman, Paul S; Galatioto, Fabio; Thorpe, Neil; Namdeo, Anil K; Davies, Richard J; Bird, Roger N

    2016-01-01

    Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has been used extensively in the US and Canada since the 1950s and offers the potential for significant new sources of oil and gas supply. Numerous other countries around the world (including the UK, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia and Argentina) are now giving serious consideration to sanctioning the technique to provide additional security over the future supply of domestic energy. However, relatively high population densities in many countries and the potential negative environmental impacts that may be associated with fracking operations has stimulated controversy and significant public debate regarding if and where fracking should be permitted. Road traffic generated by fracking operations is one possible source of environmental impact whose significance has, until now, been largely neglected in the available literature. This paper therefore presents a scoping-level environmental assessment for individual and groups of fracking sites using a newly-created Traffic Impacts Model (TIM). The model produces estimates of the traffic-related impacts of fracking on greenhouse gas emissions, local air quality emissions, noise and road pavement wear, using a range of hypothetical fracking scenarios to quantify changes in impacts against baseline levels. Results suggest that the local impacts of a single well pad may be short duration but large magnitude. That is, whilst single digit percentile increases in emissions of CO2, NOx and PM are estimated for the period from start of construction to pad completion (potentially several months or years), excess emissions of NOx on individual days of peak activity can reach 30% over baseline. Likewise, excess noise emissions appear negligible (fracking water and flowback waste requirements. The TIM model is designed to be adaptable to any geographic area where the required input data are available (such as fleet characteristics, road type and quality), and we suggest could be deployed as a

  3. Effects of policy tools of the White Paper on Mobility. Reachability by car and public transport, traffic safety and living environment. Background information for the Dutch White Paper on Mobility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Annema, J.A.; Van den Brink, R.; Hoen, A.; Geurs, K.; Van Beek, F.

    2005-11-01

    In the White Paper on Mobility ('Nota Mobiliteit'), the Dutch Ministry of Transport has presented the outline of its policy for improving traffic flows and journey time reliability. The new Dutch transport policy seeks to improve accessibility levels through the construction of new infrastructure, making better use of existing infrastructure, introducing a kilometre levy, and public transport improvements. In addition to the measures designed to achieve better transport connections, measures have been defined that have an impact on traffic safety and the environment. In this publication the impact of individual policy measures is described and explained, as well as the impact of these measures when combined in packages, and how they might contribute to meeting policy objectives. In this way the publication constitutes the background document for the 'Nota Mobiliteit' itself. [nl

  4. Using historical crash data as part of traffic work zone safety planning and project management strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-07-01

    This funding enabled the project entitled, USING HISTORICAL CRASH DATA AS PART OF TRAFFIC WORK ZONE SAFETY : PLANNING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES to address the following: : Evaluate current organizational strategies with respect to w...

  5. The Ex Hoc Infrastructure - Enhancing Traffic Safety through LIfe WArning Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Klaus Marius; Kristensen, Lars Michael; Eskildsen, Toke

    2004-01-01

    New pervasive computing technologies for sensing and communication open up novel possibilities for enhancing traffic safety. We are currently designing and implementing the Ex Hoc infrastructure framework for communication among mobile and stationary units including vehicles. The infrastructure...... will connect sensing devices on vehicles with sensing devices on other vehicles and with stationary communication units placed alongside roads. The current application of Ex Hoc is to enable the collection and dissemination of information on road condition through LIfe Warning Systems (LIWAS) units....

  6. Impact Assessment of Effective Parameters on Drivers' Attention Level to Urban Traffic Signs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazemi, Mojtaba; Rahimi, Amir Masoud; Roshankhah, Sheida

    2016-03-01

    Traffic signs are one of the oldest safety and traffic control equipments. Drivers' reaction to installed signs is an important issue that could be studied using statistical models developed for target groups. There are 527 questionnaires have been filled up randomly in 45 days, some by drivers passing two northern cities of Iran and some by e-mail. Therefore, minimum sample size of 384 is fulfilled. In addition, Cronbach Alpha of more than 90 % verifies the questionnaire's validity. Ordinal logistic regression is used for 5-level answer variables. This relatively novel method predicts probability of different cases' considering other effective independent variables. There are 18 parameters of factor, man, vehicle, and environment are assessed and 5 parameters of number of accidents in last 5 years, occupation, driving time, number of accidents per day, and driving speed are eventually found as the most important ones. Age and gender, that are considered as key factors in other safety and accident studies, are not recognized as effective ones in this paper. The results could be useful for safety planning programs.

  7. Influence of professional drivers' personality traits on road traffic safety: case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Živković, Snežana; Nikolić, Vesna; Markič, Mirko

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to present basic elements of the research directed at identifying and determining the personality traits of professional drivers that affect safe, secure and enjoyable ride on public roads. A quantitative method has been used here, whereas data were acquired from a questionnaire based on a sample of 59 professional drivers. Determining personality traits of professional drivers that are in correlation with a safe and pleasant ride on the roads has been enabled by applying the five-factor model of personality ('Big Five') and the Personality Inventory NEO-PI. From these results it was concluded that safe operation of the vehicle in traffic involves the successful 'conduct' of oneself, which recognises the importance of certain personality traits of professional drivers for traffic safety and the need for appropriate professional selection in the case of employment of professional drivers. Research results implicate development of educational programmes aimed at achieving harmony of psychological, physical and sensory health, that is, programmes for permanent informing, educating and training professional drivers for defensive driving. The research opens the way for new research tasks that should help in creating a specific structure of curricula that can be used in a variety of transportation companies and enterprises to improve general and public safety.

  8. Ships in an Artificial Force Field : A Multi-agent System for Nautical Traffic and Safety

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Xiao, F.

    2014-01-01

    The main objective of this research is developing a simulation tool that provides information of detailed ship behavior in a specific navigational environment, on both the ship traffic level and the individual ship level, for safety analysis, decision making, planning of ports and waterways, and

  9. Traffic safety program for school children through safe action and safe condition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yulianto, Budi; Setiono, Mahmudah, Amirotul Musthofiah Hidayah; Santoso, Anjar Budi

    2017-06-01

    The facts indicate that the rights of pedestrians is on the wane. Many motorists are unwilling to provide a space for pedestrians, even when they want to cross the road at zebra-cross facility. The data of traffic accident in Surakarta City showed that 7.0% of accident victims in 2014 to 2015 were children aged 5-15 or the group of school-aged children. In general, the location of schools is on the edge of the road where a lot of vehicles run at high speed. Hence, it is very dangerous for the school children to cross the road. Pertaining to this issue, the Department of Transportation implements a program named School Safety Zone (ZoSS). ZoSS is a time-dependent speed control zone consisting of road markings, traffic signs, optional traffic signals, and rumble strips. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the ZoSS based on the perception of the users, including the students, teachers, parents, and community. This study was conducted through a series of activities including the distribution of questionnaire to obtain the road users' perceptions. The results showed that most of the respondents understood the meaning, aim, and benefit of ZoSS. However, it also found that traffic sign and method of cross the road (Four-T) was not recognized appropriately by the respondents. ZoSS program was generally ineffective since the pedestrians felt unsafe to cross the road due to the high-speed vehicles.

  10. Accident Journalism and Traffic Safety Education: A Three-Phase Investigation of Accident Reporting in the Canadian Daily Press.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilde, Gerald J. S.; Ackersviller, Melody J.

    A study examined the potential for development of a traffic accident-reporting form in the Canadian daily press that strengthens concern for road safety in the general population and enhances knowledge, attitudes, and behavior leading to greater safety. The investigation was conducted on three levels: a content analysis, a readership analysis, and…

  11. Evaluating traffic informers: testing the behavioral and social-cognitive effects of an adolescent bicycle safety education program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feenstra, Hans; Ruiter, Robert A C; Kok, Gerjo

    2014-12-01

    In The Netherlands, 12-24 years old are over-represented in the total number of traffic fatalities and injuries. In this study, the traffic informer program - designed to promote safe traffic behavior in the pre-driver population - was experimentally evaluated, with a specific focus on bicycle use. Students were subjected to graphic videos of traffic accidents and listened to a first-person narrative provided by a traffic accident victim. The influence of the program on concepts derived from the theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory (attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, risk-perception, intention and behavior) was assessed. Students from various schools (N=1593;M age=15 years, SD=.84) participated in a quasi-experimental study, either in an experimental or a control group, completing self-report questionnaires one week prior to the program implementation and approximately one month after the program implementation. Mixed regression analyses showed significant positive and negative time × intervention interaction effects on attitude toward traffic violations, relative attitude toward traffic safety, and risk comparison, but not on intention and behavior. More research is needed to find effective behavioral change techniques (other than increasing risk awareness) for promoting safe traffic behavior in adolescents. Research is also needed to address how these can be translated into effective interventions and educational programs. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  12. Traffic safety in reconstructed streets. Lecture presented at the Technical University, Espoo, Finland, May 14 1985.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraay, J.H.

    1985-01-01

    In 1977 the Dutch government decided to grant governmental contributions to municipalities for conducting experiments within built-up areas, aimed at improving the traffic safety of pedestrians and cyclists. According to this 85% of the total costs involved in the implementation of experimental

  13. Procedure for Marine Traffic Simulation with AIS Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rina Miyake

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available It is essential to evaluate safety of marine traffic for the improvement of efficiency and safety of marine traffic. Spread of AIS makes observation of actual marine traffic more easily and faster than before. Besides, description of collision avoidance behaviours of ships are indispensable to simulate a realistic marine traffic. It is important to develop and implement an algorithm of collision avoidance corresponding to a target traffic or target area into the marine traffic simulation because actual actions for collision avoidance depend on circumstances where ships are sailing. The authors developed an automated marine traffic simulation system with AIS data. And in this paper, we proposed a series of systematic procedures for marine traffic simulation including analysing for collision avoidance behaviours using AIS data.

  14. Marketing and alcohol-related traffic fatalities: impact of alcohol advertising targeting minors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Ryan C; Geller, E Scott

    2009-10-01

    Alcohol-related youth traffic fatalities continue as a major public-health concern. While state and federal laws can be useful in tackling this problem, the efficacy of many laws has not been empirically demonstrated. We examined the impact of state laws prohibiting alcohol advertising to target minors. Using statistics obtained from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), youth alcohol-related, single-vehicle, driver traffic fatalities were compared by state as a function of whether the state has a law prohibiting alcohol advertising that targets minors. Overall, states possessing this law experienced 32.9% fewer of the above specified traffic fatalities. DISCUSSION AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The results suggest that not only are youth drinking rates affected by alcohol advertisements targeting youth, but also drink-driving behaviors. Indeed, we estimate that if this type of legislation were adopted in the 26 states that do not prohibit targeting of minors with alcohol advertising, then 400 youth lives could be saved annually.

  15. Trends in traffic fatalities in Mexico: examining progress on the decade of action for road safety 2011-2020.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cervantes-Trejo, Arturo; Leenen, Iwin; Fabila-Carrasco, John Stewart; Rojas-Vargas, Roy

    2016-11-01

    We explore demographic, temporal and geographic patterns of 256,588 road traffic fatalities from 1998 to 2013 in Mexico, in context of UN´s decade of action for road safety 2010-2020 (DARS). Combined traffic mortality data and population counts were analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression, distinguishing sex-age groups, vulnerable and protected road users, and municipal size. Rapid growth from 1998 to 2008 in traffic mortality rates has been reversed since 2009. Most deaths averted are among young male protected road users (reduction of 0.95 fatalities per 100,000 per year in males 12-49). In spite of a steady decrease over the full study period, mortality rates remain high in vulnerable road users over 50, with a high mortality rate of 26 per 100,000 males over 75 years in 2013. Progress on the reduction of deaths advances in Mexico, in line with DARS targets. National road safety efforts require strengthening. Initiatives should target vulnerable road users, specifically adults >50 years in urban areas. Strengthening of drink driving programs aimed at young drivers/occupants is promising.

  16. Identification of Behavior Based Safety by Using Traffic Light Analysis to Reduce Accidents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mansur, A.; Nasution, M. I.

    2016-01-01

    This work present the safety assessment of a case study and describes an important area within the field production in oil and gas industry, namely behavior based safety (BBS). The company set a rigorous BBS and its intervention program that implemented and deployed continually. In this case, observers requested to have discussion and spread a number of determined questions related with work behavior to the workers during observation. Appraisal of Traffic Light Analysis (TLA) as one tools of risk assessment used to determine the estimated score of BBS questionnaire. Standardization of TLA appraisal in this study are based on Regulation of Minister of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health No:PER.05/MEN/1996. The result shown that there are some points under 84%, which categorized in yellow category and should corrected immediately by company to prevent existing bad behavior of workers. The application of BBS expected to increase the safety performance at work time-by-time and effective in reducing accidents.

  17. Survey about pedestrian safety and attitudes toward automated traffic enforcement in Washington, D.C.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cicchino, Jessica B; Wells, Joann K; McCartt, Anne T

    2014-01-01

    Pedestrians represent more than one third of all traffic deaths in Washington, D.C. The District plans to expand its long-standing automated traffic enforcement program in 2013 from speed and red light cameras to cameras to enforce pedestrian right-of-way laws at crosswalks and stop sign laws. This study collected information on the opinions, behaviors, and knowledge of D.C. residents related to camera enforcement and pedestrian safety issues. A telephone survey of 801 adult D.C. residents was conducted in November 2012 with approximately equal numbers of respondents in each of D.C.'s eight wards. Quotas were used to ensure that the sample was representative of the demographic characteristics of adults in each ward. For analyses combining responses across the wards, data were weighted to correspond with the demographic characteristics of adults in the city. Most respondents believed that drivers speeding, running red lights, running stop signs, and not stopping for pedestrians are serious threats to their safety. Respondents strongly supported the speed and red light camera programs, with 76 percent of respondents favoring speed cameras and 87 percent favoring red light cameras. Support was more limited for the camera enforcement that was not yet in place at the time of the survey, with 50 percent of respondents favoring stop sign cameras and 47 percent of respondents favoring crosswalk cameras. Twenty-four percent of respondents had not driven a car in D.C. in the past month, and higher proportions of these nondrivers favored speed cameras (90%), stop sign cameras (67%), and crosswalk cameras (59%) than respondents who drove in D.C. in the past month. Respondents who supported camera enforcement cited safety as their main reason. More than 9 in 10 respondents knew that D.C. law requires drivers to stop for pedestrians crossing the street in marked crosswalks at intersections without traffic signals and midblock, but only 54 percent knew that drivers must stop for

  18. Increase the Safety of Road Traffic Accidents by Applying Clustering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kos Goran

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available In terms of continual increase of number of traffic accidents and alarming trend of increasing number of traffic accidents with catastrophic consequences for human life and health, it is necessary to actively research and develop methods to combat these trends. One of the measures is the implementation of advanced information systems in existing traffic environment. Accidents clusters, as databases of traffic accidents, introduce a new dimension in traffic systems in the form of experience, providing information on current accidents and the ones that have previously occurred in a given period. This paper proposes a new approach to predictive management of traffic processes, based on the collection of data in real time and is based on accidents clusters. The modern traffic information services collects road traffic status data from a wide variety of traffic sensing systems using modern ICT technologies, creating the most accurate road traffic situation awareness achieved so far. Road traffic situation awareness enhanced by accident clusters' data can be visualized and distributed in various ways (including the forms of dynamic heat maps and on various information platforms, suiting the requirements of the end-users. Accent is placed on their significant features that are based on additional knowledge about existing traffic processes and distribution of important traffic information in order to prevent and reduce traffic accidents.

  19. Impact of maritime traffic on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals and particulate matter in Venice air.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregoris, Elena; Barbaro, Elena; Morabito, Elisa; Toscano, Giuseppa; Donateo, Antonio; Cesari, Daniela; Contini, Daniele; Gambaro, Andrea

    2016-04-01

    Harbours are important hubs for economic growth in both tourism and commercial activities. They are also an environmental burden being a source of atmospheric pollution often localized near cities and industrial complexes. The aim of this study is to quantify the relative contribution of maritime traffic and harbour activities to atmospheric pollutant concentration in the Venice lagoon. The impact of ship traffic was quantified on various pollutants that are not directly included in the current European legislation for shipping emission reduction: (i) gaseous and particulate PAHs; (ii) metals in PM10; and (iii) PM10 and PM2.5. All contributions were correlated with the tonnage of ships during the sampling periods and results were used to evaluate the impact of the European Directive 2005/33/EC on air quality in Venice comparing measurements taken before and after the application of the Directive (year 2010). The outcomes suggest that legislation on ship traffic, which focused on the issue of the emissions of sulphur oxides, could be an efficient method also to reduce the impact of shipping on primary particulate matter concentration; on the other hand, we did not observe a significant reduction in the contribution of ship traffic and harbour activities to particulate PAHs and metals. Graphical abstract Impact of maritime traffic on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals and particulate matter and evaluation of the effect of an European Directive on air quality in Venice.

  20. "Taking the problem to the people": traffic safety from public relations to political theory, 1937-1954.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardin, Stève

    2015-04-01

    The slogan "taking the problem to the people" nicely summarizes U.S. traffic safety campaigns of the 1950s. It refers to the goal of awareness and self-discipline for drivers through education and law enforcement. A detailed analysis of the campaigns, however, shows a subtler objective of the motor interests that promoted it. They wanted to overcome political indifference through a civic mobilization of drivers as citizens, persuading drivers to lobby for traffic control. The analysis of their efforts leads us to question the role-or lack of role-of politicians in scientific and technological controversies.

  1. SenSafe: A Smartphone-Based Traffic Safety Framework by Sensing Vehicle and Pedestrian Behaviors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenyu Liu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Traffic accident involving vehicles is one of the most serious problems in the transportation system nowadays. How to detect dangerous steering and then alarm drivers in real time is a problem. What is more, walking while using smartphones makes pedestrian more susceptible to various risks. Although dedicated short range communication (DSRC provides the way for safety communications, most of vehicles have not been deployed with DSRC components. Even worse, DSRC is not supported by the smartphones for vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P communication. In this paper, a smartphone-based framework named SenSafe is developed to improve the traffic safety. SenSafe is a framework which only utilizes the smartphone to sense the surrounding events and provides alerts to drivers. Smartphone-based driving behaviors detection mechanism is developed inside the framework to discover various steering behaviors. Besides, the Wi-Fi association and authentication overhead is reduced to broadcast the compressed sensing data using the Wi-Fi beacon to inform the drivers of the surroundings. Furthermore, a collision estimation algorithm is designed to issue appropriate warnings. Finally, an Android-based implementation of SenSafe framework has been achieved to demonstrate the application reliability in real environments.

  2. Prediction based active ramp metering control strategy with mobility and safety assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Jie; Tu, Lili

    2018-04-01

    Ramp metering is one of the most direct and efficient motorway traffic flow management measures so as to improve traffic conditions. However, owing to short of traffic conditions prediction, in earlier studies, the impact on traffic flow dynamics of the applied RM control was not quantitatively evaluated. In this study, a RM control algorithm adopting Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework to predict and assess future traffic conditions, which taking both the current traffic conditions and the RM-controlled future traffic states into consideration, was presented. The designed RM control algorithm targets at optimizing the network mobility and safety performance. The designed algorithm is evaluated in a field-data-based simulation. Through comparing the presented algorithm controlled scenario with the uncontrolled scenario, it was proved that the proposed RM control algorithm can effectively relieve the congestion of traffic network with no significant compromises in safety aspect.

  3. Hierarchical and coupling model of factors influencing vessel traffic flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhao; Liu, Jingxian; Li, Huanhuan; Li, Zongzhi; Tan, Zhirong; Liu, Ryan Wen; Liu, Yi

    2017-01-01

    Understanding the characteristics of vessel traffic flow is crucial in maintaining navigation safety, efficiency, and overall waterway transportation management. Factors influencing vessel traffic flow possess diverse features such as hierarchy, uncertainty, nonlinearity, complexity, and interdependency. To reveal the impact mechanism of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow, a hierarchical model and a coupling model are proposed in this study based on the interpretative structural modeling method. The hierarchical model explains the hierarchies and relationships of the factors using a graph. The coupling model provides a quantitative method that explores interaction effects of factors using a coupling coefficient. The coupling coefficient is obtained by determining the quantitative indicators of the factors and their weights. Thereafter, the data obtained from Port of Tianjin is used to verify the proposed coupling model. The results show that the hierarchical model of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow can explain the level, structure, and interaction effect of the factors; the coupling model is efficient in analyzing factors influencing traffic volumes. The proposed method can be used for analyzing increases in vessel traffic flow in waterway transportation system.

  4. Is Neighborhood Green Space Protective against Associations between Child Asthma, Neighborhood Traffic Volume and Perceived Lack of Area Safety? Multilevel Analysis of 4447 Australian Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Xiaoqi; Astell-Burt, Thomas

    2017-05-19

    Heavy traffic is a source of air pollution and a safety concern with important public health implications. We investigated whether green space lowers child asthma risk by buffering the effects of heavy traffic and a lack of neighborhood safety. Multilevel models were used to analyze affirmative asthma cases in nationally representative cross-sectional data from 4447 children aged 6-7 years old in Australia. Case-finding was based upon a triangulation of affirmative responses to three questions on doctor-diagnosed asthma, asthma-related medications and illness with wheezing lasting for at least 1 week within the 12 months prior. Among children considered to be exposed to high traffic volumes and areas with 0 to 20% green space quantity, the odds ratio of affirmative asthma was 1.87 (95% CI 1.37 to 2.55). However, the association between heavy traffic and asthma was significantly lower for participants living in areas with over 40% green space coverage (odds ratio for interaction 0.32, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.84). No association between affirmative asthma and green space coverage was observed for participants not exposed to heavy traffic, nor for the area safety variable. Protecting existing and investing in new green space may help to promote child respiratory health through the buffering of traffic-related air pollution.

  5. A revealed-preference study of behavioural impacts of real-time traffic information

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knockaert, J.S.A.; Tseng, Y.; Verhoef, E.T.

    2013-01-01

    In the present study, we investigate the impact of real-time traffic information on traveller behaviour by using repeated day-to-day revealed-preference (RP) observations from a reward experiment. We estimate a trip scheduling model of morning peak behaviour that allows us to determine the impact of

  6. Bandwidth Impacts of Localizing Peer-to-Peer IP Video Traffic in Access and Aggregation Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth Kerpez

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the burgeoning impact of peer-to-peer (P2P traffic IP video traffic. High-quality IPTV or Internet TV has high-bandwidth requirements, and P2P IP video could severely strain broadband networks. A model for the popularity of video titles is given, showing that some titles are very popular and will often be available locally; making localized P2P attractive for video titles. The bandwidth impacts of localizing P2P video to try and keep traffic within a broadband access network area or within a broadband access aggregation network area are examined. Results indicate that such highly localized P2P video can greatly lower core bandwidth usage.

  7. How could intelligent safety transport systems enhance safety ?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wiethoff, M. Heijer, T. & Bekiaris, E.

    2017-01-01

    In Europe, many deaths and injured each years are the cost of today's road traffic. Therefore, it is wise to look for possible solutions for enhancing traffic safety. Some Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are expected to increase safety, but they may also evoke new safety hazards. Only

  8. A Novel Performance Framework and Methodology to Analyze the Impact of 4D Trajectory Based Operations in the Future Air Traffic Management System

    OpenAIRE

    Ruiz, Sergio; Lopez Leones, Javier; Ranieri, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    The introduction of new Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts such as Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) may produce a significant impact in all performance areas, that is, safety, capacity, flight efficiency, and others. The performance framework in use today has been tailored to the operational needs of the current ATM system and must evolve to fulfill the new needs and challenges brought by the TBO content. This paper presents a novel performance assessment framework and methodology adapted...

  9. Streamlining Transportation Corridor Planning Processess: Freight and Traffic Information

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Franzese, Oscar [ORNL

    2010-08-01

    The traffic investigation is one of the most important parts of an Environmental Impact Statement of projects involving the construction of new roadway facilities and/or the improvement of existing ones. The focus of the traffic analysis is on the determination of anticipated traffic flow characteristics of the proposed project, by the application of analytical methods that can be grouped under the umbrella of capacity analysis methodologies. In general, the main traffic parameter used in EISs to describe the quality of traffic flow is the Level of Service (LOS). The current state of the practice in terms of the traffic investigations for EISs has two main shortcomings. The first one is related to the information that is necessary to conduct the traffic analysis, and specifically to the lack of integration among the different transportation models and the sources of information that, in general, reside in GIS databases. A discussion of the benefits of integrating CRS&SI technologies and the transportation models used in the EIS traffic investigation is included. The second shortcoming is in the presentation of the results, both in terms of the appearance and formatting, as well as content. The presentation of traffic results (current and proposed) is discussed. This chapter also addresses the need of additional data, in terms of content and coverage. Regarding the former, other traffic parameters (e.g., delays) that are more meaningful to non-transportation experts than LOS, as well as additional information (e.g., freight flows) that can impact traffic conditions and safety are discussed. Spatial information technologies can decrease the negative effects of, and even eliminate, these shortcomings by making the relevant information that is input to the models more complete and readily available, and by providing the means to communicate the results in a more clear and efficient manner. The benefits that the application and use of CRS&SI technologies can provide to

  10. Analysis of traffic accidents in Romania, 2009.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Călinoiu, Geovana; Minca, Dana Galieta; Furtunescu, Florentina Ligia

    2012-01-01

    This paper aimed to underline the main consequences of traffic accidents in Romania 2009 and their associated causes or circumstances. We identified some problematic geographic areas, some critical months or moments of the day and also the most frequent causes; all these should become targets for the future planning. The current analysis provides some priority criteria for public health interventions. So, the future national road safety strategy should be in line with the EU objectives, but also with the national priorities. Romania is far away from the average EU target for 2010 of halving the death by traffic accidents registered in 2001. To describe the circumstances and the consequences related to traffic accidents registered in Romania, for the year 2009. An ecological study was conducted. The traffic accidents circumstances were analyzed in terms of magnitude, geographic space, time and cause. The consequences were analyzed as affected people and damaged cars. A total of 28,627 traffic accidents were registered in Romania during the year 2009. 2,796 people were killed and 27,968 were hospitalized and 42,443 cars were damaged. 3 of 4 accidents were caused by violations on behalf of the car drivers. Most common violations in car drivers were excess of speed and priority violations (52.4%). Among the pedestrians, 7 of 10 accidents were caused by illegal crossing. A higher number of accidents occurred during the summer months and during the evening hours (from 5.00 pm till 8.00 pm). The traffic accidents represent a real public health problem in Romania and a serious burden for the health system. The gap between Romania and the other EU member states needs to be diminished in the next decade. In this purpose, the future national road safety strategy should be in line with the EU objectives, but also with the national priorities. Research is needed to understand the causes and the socio-economical impact of traffic accidents and to define appropriate national

  11. Alternative method of highway traffic safety analysis for developing countries using delphi technique and Bayesian network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mbakwe, Anthony C; Saka, Anthony A; Choi, Keechoo; Lee, Young-Jae

    2016-08-01

    Highway traffic accidents all over the world result in more than 1.3 million fatalities annually. An alarming number of these fatalities occurs in developing countries. There are many risk factors that are associated with frequent accidents, heavy loss of lives, and property damage in developing countries. Unfortunately, poor record keeping practices are very difficult obstacle to overcome in striving to obtain a near accurate casualty and safety data. In light of the fact that there are numerous accident causes, any attempts to curb the escalating death and injury rates in developing countries must include the identification of the primary accident causes. This paper, therefore, seeks to show that the Delphi Technique is a suitable alternative method that can be exploited in generating highway traffic accident data through which the major accident causes can be identified. In order to authenticate the technique used, Korea, a country that underwent similar problems when it was in its early stages of development in addition to the availability of excellent highway safety records in its database, is chosen and utilized for this purpose. Validation of the methodology confirms the technique is suitable for application in developing countries. Furthermore, the Delphi Technique, in combination with the Bayesian Network Model, is utilized in modeling highway traffic accidents and forecasting accident rates in the countries of research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Risk factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents at Shanghai river-crossing tunnel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Jian John; Xing, Yingying; Wang, Chen; Cai, Xiaonan

    2016-01-01

    With increasing traffic volume and urban development, increasing numbers of underground tunnels have been constructed to relieve conflict between strained land and heavy traffic. However, as more long tunnels are constructed, tunnel traffic safety is becoming increasingly serious. Thus, it is necessary to acquire their implications and impacts. This study examined 4,539 traffic accidents that have occurred in 14 Shanghai river-crossing tunnels for the period 2011-2012 and analyze the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity. An ordered logit model was developed to examine the correlation between potential factors and accident injury severity. Results show that increased injury severity is associated with male drivers, drivers aged 65 years or older, accident time from midnight to dawn, weekends, wet road surface, goods vehicles, 3 or more vehicles, 4 or more lanes, middle speed limits (50-79 km/h), zone 3, extra-long tunnels (over 3,000 m), and maximum longitudinal gradient. This article aims to provide useful information for engineers to develop interventions and countermeasures to improve tunnel safety in China.

  13. Noxious substances in the air - traffic planning measures - traffic of the future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koestenberger, H

    1985-01-01

    Necessary bundle of measures: Extension of public transport and restriction of individual traffic, extension and activation of large main roads (by-passes) to unload inhabited areas, building garages, creation of residential streets, pedestrian precincts and cycle paths. The best possible traffic system can only be achieved if all means of transport are used efficiently. It is the duty of traffic planners to develop an overall traffic system with the aims of benefiting the whole community. Due to wrong slowing down of traffic, the reduction of emitted quantities of noxious substances from private cars can be counteracted by general slowing down of traffic; frequent braking and restarting. The functional separation of residential areas for living, areas for working, supply, education and leisure pursuits which has been aimed at in recent decades must be slowly changed. This could reduce the traffic and mobility (mixed functions). The aims for traffic of the future are: suitability for the environment, economy, safety and capacity. In an integrated road network, the traffic must take over the correct purpose of traffic. (orig.).

  14. Towards the development of a scientifically accountable, comprehensive and integrated national road traffic safety databank in South Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mynhardt, DC

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Transport Conference, CSIR Convention Centre, Pretoria, 7-10 July 2014 Towards the development of a scientifically accountable, comprehensive and integrated national road traffic safety databank in South Africa D. C. MYNHARDT Council for Scientific...

  15. Impact of Incidents on Traffic Congestion in Dar es Salaam City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Mfinanga

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Poorly managed traffic incidents have largely contributed to congestion and delay in the city of Dar es Salaam. A thorough understanding of travel delays caused by incidents is therefore essential for effective countermeasures against the increasing congestion. The method used to determine delays in this research is based on the deterministic queuing theory. Information on incidents was obtained from traffic surveys, traffic police and road users. Counting of the number of vehicles passing the incident location was done on incident and incident-free days. The cumulative traffic counts on incident and incident-free days were then calculated and used to plot the queuing diagram used to determine incident induced delay. This method turned out to be a useful tool for estimating incident induced delay in areas with less sophisticated equipment i.e. where there are no sensors, CCTV cameras, etc. The method provided good estimates of incident induced delay which may help planners and transportation officials in better understanding incident related congestion and in selecting more effective countermeasures against incident related traffic congestion in the city. It was found out that the effects of incidents were different for the different zones, types of incidents and the periods the incident occurred. In addition to the incident duration and the number of vehicles affected, the impact of incidents also depended on availability of alternative routes, number of lanes on the road, discipline of the driver in manoeuvring at incident location and traffic control at the scene.

  16. Will Automated Vehicles Negatively Impact Traffic Flow?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. C. Calvert

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With low-level vehicle automation already available, there is a necessity to estimate its effects on traffic flow, especially if these could be negative. A long gradual transition will occur from manual driving to automated driving, in which many yet unknown traffic flow dynamics will be present. These effects have the potential to increasingly aid or cripple current road networks. In this contribution, we investigate these effects using an empirically calibrated and validated simulation experiment, backed up with findings from literature. We found that low-level automated vehicles in mixed traffic will initially have a small negative effect on traffic flow and road capacities. The experiment further showed that any improvement in traffic flow will only be seen at penetration rates above 70%. Also, the capacity drop appeared to be slightly higher with the presence of low-level automated vehicles. The experiment further investigated the effect of bottleneck severity and truck shares on traffic flow. Improvements to current traffic models are recommended and should include a greater detail and understanding of driver-vehicle interaction, both in conventional and in mixed traffic flow. Further research into behavioural shifts in driving is also recommended due to limited data and knowledge of these dynamics.

  17. Developing an indicator for the chronic health impact of traffic-related pollutant emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lépicier, Véronique; Chiron, Mireille; Joumard, Robert

    2013-01-01

    The goal of this study is to develop an emission based indicator for the health impact of the air pollution caused by traffic. This indicator must make it possible to compare different situations, for example different Urban Travel Plans, or technical innovations. Our work is based on a literature survey of methods for evaluating health impacts and, more particularly, those which relate to the atmospheric pollution caused by transport. We then define a health impact indicator based on the traffic emissions, named IISCEP for Chronic health impact indicator of pollutant emission. Here health is understood in a restricted meaning, excluding well-being. Only primary pollutants can be considered, as the inputs are emission data and an indicator must be simple. The indicator is calculated as the sum of each pollutant emission multiplied by a dispersion and exposition factor and a substance specific toxicity factor taking account of the severity. Last, two examples are shown using the IISCEP: comparison between petrol and diesel vehicles, and Nantes urban district in 2008 vs 2002. Even if it could still be improved, IISCEP is a straightforward indicator which can be used to gauge the chronic effects of inhaling primary pollutants. It can only be used in comparisons, between different scenarios or different technologies. The quality of the emissions data and the choice of the pollutants that are considered are the two essential factors that determine its validity and reliability. - Highlights: ► The goal of the study is to develop an emission based indicator for the health impact of the air pollution caused by traffic. ► It is based on a literature survey of methods for evaluating health impacts related to the atmospheric pollution. ► We define a composite indicator based on the traffic emissions and on local data as dispersion conditions and population. ► The indicator is a combination of pollutant emission, dispersion, exposition factor, and substance specific

  18. The Taskload-Efficiency-Safety-Buffer Triangle--development and validation with air traffic management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kallus, K Wolfgang; Hoffmann, Peter; Winkler, Hildegard; Vormayr, Elisabeth M

    2010-02-01

    The Taskload-Efficiency-Safety-Buffer Triangle (TEST) was developed as a new computerised scaling tool for quickly visualising changes in and trade-offs between the three critical factors that determine the work situation of air traffic management (ATM), i.e. taskload, efficiency and safety-buffers. Based on a task analysis of ATM and backed up by the stress-strain model, an easy-to-interpret triangle was constructed and validated both in simulated and real ATM workplaces. Results from the validation studies show that TEST does not only reflect the most relevant task characteristics, but also provides additional insights in the controllers' working styles. The TEST tool can make ATM safety surveys more efficient and help supervisors to decide about optimal times for opening or closing additional sectors. Statement of Relevance: TEST is a new tool to assess taskload, efficiency and safety-buffers in a joint scaling. It reflects increases in taskload and effects of taskload on safety-buffers and efficiency, as well as trade-offs in opposite directions. This tool might be very useful to check sector capacity in ATM and other high risk environments.

  19. Burden of road traffic injuries related to delays in implementing safety belt laws in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Aurélie; Lagarde, Emmanuel; Salmi, L Rachid

    2018-02-28

    Delayed implementation of effective road safety policies must be considered when quantifying the avoidable part of the fatal and nonfatal injuries burden. We sought to assess the avoidable part of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to road traffic injuries related to delays in implementing road safety laws in low- and lower-middle-income countries. We chose one country for each of the regions of the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank (WB) country income levels. We used freely available data sets (WHO, International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group, the WB). Delays in implementation were calculated until 2013, from the year mandatory use of safety belts by motor vehicle front seat occupants was first introduced worldwide. We used life expectancy tables and age groups as social values in the DALY calculation model. From the estimated total burden, avoidable DALYs were calculated using estimates of the effectiveness of seat belt laws on fatal and nonfatal injuries combined, as extracted from published international reviews of evidence. From the reference year 1972, implementation delays varied from 27 years (Uzbekistan) to 41 years in Bolivia (no seat belt law as of 2013). During delays, total absolute numbers of DALYs lost due to road traffic injuries reached 8,462,099 in Nigeria, 7,203,570 in Morocco, 4,695,500 in Uzbekistan, 3,866,391 in Cambodia, 3,253,359 in Bolivia, and 3,128,721 in Sri Lanka. Using effectiveness estimates ranging from 3 to 20% reduction, the avoidable burden of road traffic injuries for car occupants was highest in Uzbekistan (avoidable part from 1.2 to 10.4%) and in Morocco (avoidable part from 1.5 to 12.3%). In countries where users of public transport and pedestrians were the most affected by the burden, the avoidable parts ranged from 0.5 to 4.4% (Nigeria) and from 0.5 to 3.4% (Bolivia). Burden of road traffic injuries mostly affected motorcyclists in Sri Lanka and Cambodia where the avoidable parts were

  20. Optimal Control of Hybrid Systems in Air Traffic Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamgarpour, Maryam

    Growing concerns over the scalability of air traffic operations, air transportation fuel emissions and prices, as well as the advent of communication and sensing technologies motivate improvements to the air traffic management system. To address such improvements, in this thesis a hybrid dynamical model as an abstraction of the air traffic system is considered. Wind and hazardous weather impacts are included using a stochastic model. This thesis focuses on the design of algorithms for verification and control of hybrid and stochastic dynamical systems and the application of these algorithms to air traffic management problems. In the deterministic setting, a numerically efficient algorithm for optimal control of hybrid systems is proposed based on extensions of classical optimal control techniques. This algorithm is applied to optimize the trajectory of an Airbus 320 aircraft in the presence of wind and storms. In the stochastic setting, the verification problem of reaching a target set while avoiding obstacles (reach-avoid) is formulated as a two-player game to account for external agents' influence on system dynamics. The solution approach is applied to air traffic conflict prediction in the presence of stochastic wind. Due to the uncertainty in forecasts of the hazardous weather, and hence the unsafe regions of airspace for aircraft flight, the reach-avoid framework is extended to account for stochastic target and safe sets. This methodology is used to maximize the probability of the safety of aircraft paths through hazardous weather. Finally, the problem of modeling and optimization of arrival air traffic and runway configuration in dense airspace subject to stochastic weather data is addressed. This problem is formulated as a hybrid optimal control problem and is solved with a hierarchical approach that decouples safety and performance. As illustrated with this problem, the large scale of air traffic operations motivates future work on the efficient

  1. The impact of traffic-flow patterns on air quality in urban street canyons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thaker, Prashant; Gokhale, Sharad

    2016-01-01

    We investigated the effect of different urban traffic-flow patterns on pollutant dispersion in different winds in a real asymmetric street canyon. Free-flow traffic causes more turbulence in the canyon facilitating more dispersion and a reduction in pedestrian level concentration. The comparison of with and without a vehicle-induced-turbulence revealed that when winds were perpendicular, the free-flow traffic reduced the concentration by 73% on the windward side with a minor increase of 17% on the leeward side, whereas for parallel winds, it reduced the concentration by 51% and 29%. The congested-flow traffic increased the concentrations on the leeward side by 47% when winds were perpendicular posing a higher risk to health, whereas reduced it by 17–42% for parallel winds. The urban air quality and public health can, therefore, be improved by improving the traffic-flow patterns in street canyons as vehicle-induced turbulence has been shown to contribute significantly to dispersion. - Highlights: • CFD is used to study impact of traffic-flow patterns on urban air quality. • Facilitating free-flow patterns induce more turbulence in street canyons. • Traffic-generated turbulence alters pollutant levels in urban street canyons. - This study investigates the effect of vehicle-induced-turbulence generated during free-flow traffic pattern in reduction of air pollutant concentrations in urban street canyons.

  2. Motorcycles Health and Traffic Safety: Evidence from Commercial Motorcyclists in Gombe State, Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasiru Inuwa

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Although commercial motorcyclists are gaining acceptance by all and sundry as a means of public transport which are adapted to the contemporary Nigerian society. However, expose to all hazards including accidents are further worsened by the lack of proper knowledge on road safety measures of the commercial motorcycle riders. Therefore, this study evaluates the effects of a commercial motorcycle on health and traffic safety in Gombe metropolis, Gombe State, Nigeria. The study was carried out in Gombe Metropolis with using the random sampling technique to select 500 motorcyclists sample size. The data generated were analyzed using simple percentages. The study finds that most of the motorcycles accidents were caused by reckless riding, drug abuse and disregard to traffic rules. Similarly, the study finds that Tricycles are the most important factor causing motorcycle accidents in Gombe metropolis. Furthermore, the study finds that most of the respondents suffer from at least one health challenge as a result of their continuous use of the motorcycle. The study therefore recommends that government and other relevant agencies should be equipped with materials and human resources to embark on regular and massive breath testing of motorcyclists to detect riders who ride under the influence of drugs. This can be achieved through identifying the Drunken riders and make them face the wrath of the law.

  3. Bandwidth Impacts of Localizing Peer-to-Peer IP Video Traffic in Access and Aggregation Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kerpez Kenneth

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper examines the burgeoning impact of peer-to-peer (P2P traffic IP video traffic. High-quality IPTV or Internet TV has high-bandwidth requirements, and P2P IP video could severely strain broadband networks. A model for the popularity of video titles is given, showing that some titles are very popular and will often be available locally; making localized P2P attractive for video titles. The bandwidth impacts of localizing P2P video to try and keep traffic within a broadband access network area or within a broadband access aggregation network area are examined. Results indicate that such highly localized P2P video can greatly lower core bandwidth usage.

  4. Traffic information computing platform for big data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Duan, Zongtao, E-mail: ztduan@chd.edu.cn; Li, Ying, E-mail: ztduan@chd.edu.cn; Zheng, Xibin, E-mail: ztduan@chd.edu.cn; Liu, Yan, E-mail: ztduan@chd.edu.cn; Dai, Jiting, E-mail: ztduan@chd.edu.cn; Kang, Jun, E-mail: ztduan@chd.edu.cn [Chang' an University School of Information Engineering, Xi' an, China and Shaanxi Engineering and Technical Research Center for Road and Traffic Detection, Xi' an (China)

    2014-10-06

    Big data environment create data conditions for improving the quality of traffic information service. The target of this article is to construct a traffic information computing platform for big data environment. Through in-depth analysis the connotation and technology characteristics of big data and traffic information service, a distributed traffic atomic information computing platform architecture is proposed. Under the big data environment, this type of traffic atomic information computing architecture helps to guarantee the traffic safety and efficient operation, more intelligent and personalized traffic information service can be used for the traffic information users.

  5. Traffic information computing platform for big data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duan, Zongtao; Li, Ying; Zheng, Xibin; Liu, Yan; Dai, Jiting; Kang, Jun

    2014-01-01

    Big data environment create data conditions for improving the quality of traffic information service. The target of this article is to construct a traffic information computing platform for big data environment. Through in-depth analysis the connotation and technology characteristics of big data and traffic information service, a distributed traffic atomic information computing platform architecture is proposed. Under the big data environment, this type of traffic atomic information computing architecture helps to guarantee the traffic safety and efficient operation, more intelligent and personalized traffic information service can be used for the traffic information users

  6. Analysis of Child-related Road Traffic Accidents in Vietnam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vu, Anh Tuan; Nguyen, Dinh Vinh Man

    2018-04-01

    In recent years, the number of road traffic accidents, fatalities and injuries have been decreasing, but the figures of children road traffic accidents have been increasing in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. This fact strongly calls for implementing effective solutions to improve traffic safety for children by the local government. This paper presents the trends, patterns and causes of road traffic accidents involving children based on the analysis of road traffic accident data over the period 2010-2015 and the video-based observations of road traffic law violations at 15 typical school gates and 10 typical roads. The results could be useful for the city government to formulate solutions to effectively improve traffic safety for children in Ho Chi Minh City and other cities in Vietnam.

  7. Seat belt, DWI, and other traffic violations among recent immigrants in Florida and Tennessee : traffic tech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-01

    The rapidly changing racial and ethnic composition of the : U.S. population is important to traffic safety specialists : because involvement in fatal traffic crashes varies across : racial and ethnic groups. Some research suggests that certain : mino...

  8. The psychological impact of traffic injuries sustained in a road crash by bicyclists: A prospective study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Craig, Ashley; Elbers, N.A.; Jagnoor, Jagnoor; Gopinath, Bamini; Kifley, Annette; Dinh, Michal; Pozzato, Ilaria; Ivers, Rebecca; Nicholas, Michael; Cameron, Ian

    2017-01-01

    Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the psychological impact of traffic injuries in bicyclists (cyclists) in comparison to car occupants who also sustained traffic injuries. Factors predictive of elevated psychological distress were also investigated. Methods: An inception

  9. Introduction of Autonomous Vehicles: Roundabouts Design and Safety Performance Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandra Deluka Tibljaš

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Driving experiences provided by the introduction of new vehicle technologies are directly impacting the criteria for road network design. New criteria should be taken into consideration by designers, researchers and car owners in order to assure traffic safety in changed conditions that will appear with, for example, introduction of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs in everyday traffic. In this paper, roundabout safety level is analysed on the originally developed microsimulation model in circumstances where different numbers of AVs vehicles are mixed with Conventional Vehicles (CVs. Field data about speed and traffic volumes from existing roundabouts in Croatia were used for development of the model. The simulations done with the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM give some relevant highlights on how the introduction of AVs could change both operational and safety parameters at roundabouts. To further explore the effects on safety of roundabouts with the introduction of different shares of AVs, hypothetical safety treatments could be tested to explore whether their effects may change, leading to the estimation of a new set of Crash Modification Factors.

  10. Traffic safety issues in North Dakota : phase II : driver knowledge, attitude, behavior and beliefs : focus group : young male drivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-10-01

    Traffic safety is a widespread social concern. Tackling the problem requires understanding the people : who are driving. This includes information about driver behavior, but also about perceptions these drivers : hold regarding their driving. North D...

  11. Improved GIS-based Methods for Traffic Noise Impact Assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Otto Anker; Bloch, Karsten Sand

    1996-01-01

    When vector-based GIS-packages are used for traffic noise impact assessments, the buffer-technique is usually employed for the study: 1. For each road segment buffer-zones representing different noise-intervals are generated, 2. The buffers from all road segments are smoothed together, and 3....... The number of buildings within the buffers are enumerated. This technique provides an inaccurate assessment of the noise diffusion since it does not correct for buildings barrier and reflection to noise. The paper presents the results from a research project where the traditional noise buffer technique...... was compared with a new method which includes these corrections. Both methods follow the Common Nordic Noise Calculation Model, although the traditional buffer technique ignores parts of the model. The basis for the work was a digital map of roads and building polygons, combined with a traffic- and road...

  12. Pedestrian Traffic Conditions of Rural Roads and Built-Up Areas: The Analysis of the Existing Situation and Possibilities of Improving Traffic Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nemunas Abukauskas

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The results of lengthy thorough investigations into traffic safety situation show that the percentage of pedestrians getting involved in road traffic accidents on Lithuanian roads is significantly higher (more than 33 % of the total number of injury and fatal accidents than that compared to the other European Union member-states. The article studies traffic safety problems and their factors causing the largest influence on the occurrence of these accidents. Considering valuable experience gained by foreign countries, investigation was carried out to establish general and main factors causing insufficient road safety conditions and significance of these factors to road safety. The article also shows the main activity improving road safety in Lithuania and discusses the effectiveness of strategic and local (temporary and long term measures to improve conditions for pedestrian road safety. Article in Lithuanian

  13. Road traffic injury on rural roads in Tanzania: measuring the effectiveness of a road safety program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmerman, Karen; Jinadasa, Deepani; Maegga, Bertha; Guerrero, Alejandro

    2015-01-01

    Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a major public health burden, especially in low- and middle-income countries. There is limited data on RTIs in low-volume, rural African settings. This study attempted to survey all individuals living in households within 200 m of two low-volume rural roads in Tanzania and to collect data on RTIs. Local communities and users of the Bago to Talawanda road (intervention site) and Kikaro to Mihuga road (control site) were targeted and received an intensive program of road safety measures tailored using the crash characteristics of the baseline sample. Demographic data on all household members were collected, and those individuals who suffered an RTI in the previous 3 months had comprehensive information collected about the crash characteristics and the socioeconomic impact. The follow-up data collection occurred nine months after the baseline data were collected. The majority of crashes that caused an RTI involved a motorcycle (71%) and the majority of victims were male (82%) with an average age of 27. Injuries to the legs (55%) were most common and the average length of time away from normal activity was 27 (±33) days. RTI incidence at the intervention site increased during the course of the study (incidence before vs. incidence after) and was unchanged in the community control (incidence before vs. incidence after). The incidence of RTIs in the low-volume rural setting is unacceptably high and most commonly associated with motorcycles. The change in incidence is unreliable due to logistic restraints of the project and more research is needed to quantify the impact of various RTI prevention strategies in this setting. This study provides insight into road traffic injuries on low-volume rural roads, areas where very little research has been captured. Additionally, it provides a replicable study design for those interested in collecting similar data on low-volume rural roads.

  14. Assessing the impact of road traffic on cycling for leisure and cycling to work

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wareham Nicholas J

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To explore the relationship between leisure and commuter cycling with objectively measured levels of road traffic and whether any relationship was affected by traffic levels directly outside of home or in local neighbourhood. Findings We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the UK European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC Norfolk cohort in 2009. We used a geographical information system (GIS and gender specific multivariate models to relate 13 927 participants' reported levels of cycling with an index of road traffic volume (Road Traffic Volume Index Score - RTVIS. RTVIS were calculated around each participants home, using four distance based buffers, (0.5 km, 1 km, 2 km and 3.2 km. Models were adjusted for age, social status, education, car access and deprivation. Both genders had similar decreases in leisure cycling as traffic volumes increased at greater distances from home (OR 0.42, (95% CI 0.32-0.52, p Conclusions Traffic volumes appear to have greater impact on leisure cycling than commuter cycling. Future research should investigate the importance of traffic on different types of cycling and include psychosocial correlates.

  15. Hierarchical and coupling model of factors influencing vessel traffic flow.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Liu

    Full Text Available Understanding the characteristics of vessel traffic flow is crucial in maintaining navigation safety, efficiency, and overall waterway transportation management. Factors influencing vessel traffic flow possess diverse features such as hierarchy, uncertainty, nonlinearity, complexity, and interdependency. To reveal the impact mechanism of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow, a hierarchical model and a coupling model are proposed in this study based on the interpretative structural modeling method. The hierarchical model explains the hierarchies and relationships of the factors using a graph. The coupling model provides a quantitative method that explores interaction effects of factors using a coupling coefficient. The coupling coefficient is obtained by determining the quantitative indicators of the factors and their weights. Thereafter, the data obtained from Port of Tianjin is used to verify the proposed coupling model. The results show that the hierarchical model of the factors influencing vessel traffic flow can explain the level, structure, and interaction effect of the factors; the coupling model is efficient in analyzing factors influencing traffic volumes. The proposed method can be used for analyzing increases in vessel traffic flow in waterway transportation system.

  16. The effects of a new traffic safety law in the Republic of Serbia on driving under the influence of alcohol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zivković, Vladimir; Nikolić, Slobodan; Lukić, Vera; Zivadinović, Nenad; Babić, Dragan

    2013-04-01

    The aim of the study presented here has been to see what the effects of the new traffic safety law are, 2 years into its initial implementation, on driving under the influence of alcohol. Until the end of 2009, the legal limit for blood concentration for drivers in Serbia was 0.5g/l; however, the new traffic safety law stipulates the new limit to be 0.3g/l. A retrospective autopsy study was performed over a 6-year period (from 2006 to 2011) whose sample covered cases of fatally injured drivers who had died at the scene of the incident, before being admitted to hospital. A total of 161 fatally injured drivers were examined for their blood alcohol concentration. The average age for these drivers was 40.2±15.4 years, with a significant male predominance of 152 men to 9 women (χ(2)=152.000, pdriving under the influence of alcohol, which still remains one of the major human factors, responsible for road-traffic crashes in Serbia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Modeling secondary accidents identified by traffic shock waves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Junhua, Wang; Boya, Liu; Lanfang, Zhang; Ragland, David R

    2016-02-01

    The high potential for occurrence and the negative consequences of secondary accidents make them an issue of great concern affecting freeway safety. Using accident records from a three-year period together with California interstate freeway loop data, a dynamic method for more accurate classification based on the traffic shock wave detecting method was used to identify secondary accidents. Spatio-temporal gaps between the primary and secondary accident were proven be fit via a mixture of Weibull and normal distribution. A logistic regression model was developed to investigate major factors contributing to secondary accident occurrence. Traffic shock wave speed and volume at the occurrence of a primary accident were explicitly considered in the model, as a secondary accident is defined as an accident that occurs within the spatio-temporal impact scope of the primary accident. Results show that the shock waves originating in the wake of a primary accident have a more significant impact on the likelihood of a secondary accident occurrence than the effects of traffic volume. Primary accidents with long durations can significantly increase the possibility of secondary accidents. Unsafe speed and weather are other factors contributing to secondary crash occurrence. It is strongly suggested that when police or rescue personnel arrive at the scene of an accident, they should not suddenly block, decrease, or unblock the traffic flow, but instead endeavor to control traffic in a smooth and controlled manner. Also it is important to reduce accident processing time to reduce the risk of secondary accident. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. The Effect of Alcohol and Road Traffic Policies on Crash Rates in Botswana, 2004–2011: A Time-Series Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Sebego, Miriam; Naumann, Rebecca B.; Rudd, Rose A.; Voetsch, Karen; Dellinger, Ann M.; Ndlovu, Christopher

    2014-01-01

    In Botswana, increased development and motorization have brought increased road traffic-related death rates. Between 1981 and 2001, the road traffic-related death rate in Botswana more than tripled. The country has taken several steps over the last several years to address the growing burden of road traffic crashes and particularly to address the burden of alcohol-related crashes. This study examines the impact of the implementation of alcohol and road safety-related policies on crash rates, ...

  19. Developing a Web-Based Advisory Expert System for Implementing Traffic Calming Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amir Falamarzi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Lack of traffic safety has become a serious issue in residential areas. In this paper, a web-based advisory expert system for the purpose of applying traffic calming strategies on residential streets is described because there currently lacks a structured framework for the implementation of such strategies. Developing an expert system can assist and advise engineers for dealing with traffic safety problems. This expert system is developed to fill the gap between the traffic safety experts and people who seek to employ traffic calming strategies including decision makers, engineers, and students. In order to build the expert system, examining sources related to traffic calming studies as well as interviewing with domain experts have been carried out. The system includes above 150 rules and 200 images for different types of measures. The system has three main functions including classifying traffic calming measures, prioritizing traffic calming strategies, and presenting solutions for different traffic safety problems. Verifying, validating processes, and comparing the system with similar works have shown that the system is consistent and acceptable for practical uses. Finally, some recommendations for improving the system are presented.

  20. Experimental research on safety impacts of the inside shoulder based on driving simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xiaohua; Ding, Han; Wu, Yiping; Ma, Jianming; Zhong, Liande

    2015-03-01

    Statistical data shows that single-vehicle crashes account for half of all traffic crashes on expressways in China, and previous research has indicated that main contributing factors were related to whether and how the inside shoulder was paved. The inside shoulder provides space for drivers to make evasive maneuvers and accommodate driver errors. However, lower-cost construction solutions in China have resulted in the design of numerous urban expressway segments that lack inside shoulders. This paper has two objectives. The first is to reveal the safety impacts of inside shoulders on urban expressways by driving simulator experiment. The second objective is to propose optimal range and recommended value of inside shoulder width for designing inside shoulders of urban expressways. The empirical data, including subjects' eye movement data, heart rate (HR) and the lateral position of vehicles, were collected in a driving simulator. The data were analyzed to evaluate the safety impacts of the inside shoulder. The results have revealed that the inside shoulder has an impact on drivers' visual perception, behaviors, and psychology; in particular, it has a significant effect on vehicle operations. In addition, this paper recommends the desired and optimal inside shoulder widths for eight-lane, two-way divided expressways. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Analysis and Mitigation of Increased Traffic Impacts on the Environment (AMITIE), Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Metron Aviation designs and develops an integrated methodology and supporting algorithms for estimating environmental impacts of increased traffic on the surface and...

  2. General aviation air traffic pattern safety analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, L. C.

    1973-01-01

    A concept is described for evaluating the general aviation mid-air collision hazard in uncontrolled terminal airspace. Three-dimensional traffic pattern measurements were conducted at uncontrolled and controlled airports. Computer programs for data reduction, storage retrieval and statistical analysis have been developed. Initial general aviation air traffic pattern characteristics are presented. These preliminary results indicate that patterns are highly divergent from the expected standard pattern, and that pattern procedures observed can affect the ability of pilots to see and avoid each other.

  3. Navigators’ Behavior in Traffic Separation Schemes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zbigniew Pietrzykowski

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available One of the areas of decision support in the navigational ship conduct process is a Traffic Separation Scheme. TSSs are established in areas with high traffic density, often near the shore and in port approaches. The main purpose of these schemes is to improve maritime safety by channeling vessel traffic into streams. Traffic regulations as well as ships behavior in real conditions in chosen TSSs have been analyzed in order to develop decision support algorithms.

  4. Developing a theoretical foundation to change road user behavior and improve traffic safety: Driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, Nicholas J; Schell, William; Kelley-Baker, Tara; Otto, Jay; Finley, Kari

    2018-05-19

    This study explored a theoretical model to assess the influence of culture on willingness and intention to drive under the influence of cannabis (DUIC). This model is expected to guide the design of strategies to change future DUIC behavior in road users. This study used a survey methodology to obtain a nationally representative sample (n = 941) from the AmeriSpeak Panel. Survey items were designed to measure aspects of a proposed definition of traffic safety culture and a predictive model of its relationship to DUIC. Although the percentage of reported past DUIC behaviors was relatively low (8.5%), this behavior is still a significant public health issue-especially for younger drivers (18-29 years), who reported more DUIC than expected. Findings suggest that specific cultural components (attitudes, norms) reliably predict past DUIC behavior, general DUIC willingness, and future DUIC intention. Most DUIC behavior appears to be deliberate, related significantly to willingness and intention. Intention and willingness both appear to fully moderate the relationship between traffic safety culture and DUIC behavior. This study explored a theoretical model to understand road user behavior involving drug (cannabis)-impaired driving as a significant risk factor for traffic safety. By understanding the cultural factors that increase DUIC behavior, we can create strategies to transform this culture and sustain safer road user behavior.

  5. ACCOUNT OF ROAD CONDITIONS WHILE INVESTIGATING TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. D. Selioukov

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers problems on better traffic safety at government, authority, engineering and driver activity levels, account of road conditions while investigating traffic accidents. The paper also provides road defects mentioned in forensic transport examinations of traffic accidents.

  6. Analysis of factors temporarily impacting traffic sign readability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Majid Khalilikhah

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Traffic sign readability can be affected by the existence of dirt on traffic sign faces. However, among damaged signs, dirty traffic signs are unique since their damage is not permanent and they just can be cleaned instead of replaced. This study aimed to identify the most important factors contributing to traffic sign dirt. To do so, a large number of traffic signs in Utah were measured by deploying a vehicle instrumented with mobile LiDAR imaging and digital photolog technologies. Each individual daytime digital image was inspected for dirt. Location and climate observations obtained from official sources were compiled using ArcGIS throughout the process. To identify contributing factors to traffic sign dirt, the chi-square test was employed. To analyze the data and rank all of the factors based on their importance to the sign dirt, Random forests statistical model was utilized. After analyzing the data, it can be concluded that ground elevation, sign mount height, and air pollution had the highest effect on making traffic signs dirty. The findings of this investigation assist transportation agencies in determining traffic signs with a higher likelihood of sign dirt. In this way, agencies would schedule to clean such traffic signs more frequently.

  7. Impact of provincial characteristics on the number of traffic accident victims on interurban roads in Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sánchez González, María Pilar; Escribano Sotos, Francisco; Tejada Ponce, Ángel

    2018-02-21

    This study has two aims. The first is to determine how various factors impact on the number of fatalities, serious injuries and slight injuries adjusted for the level of traffic on interurban roads in Spain. The second is to establish the number of victims per million vehicle-kilometres (veh-km) travelled on interurban roads in each province resulting from the effect of its specific characteristics. To this end, we developed six fixed effect panel data models with panel corrected standard errors for the 1999-2015 period. Our results show that while the proportion of high capacity roads, the unemployment rate and the motorization rate contribute to a reduction in the number of fatalities, serious injuries and slight injuries adjusted for level of traffic, the penalty-points licence system is effective in reducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries but not the number of slight injuries. Furthermore, the specific conditions in Ávila, Toledo, Madrid, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Balearic Islands, Lleida and all the provinces on the Mediterranean coast cause a higher number of victims per million veh-km travelled than in the remaining provinces. Thus, greater public investment and more socially responsible behaviour are essential tools for reducing the number of traffic accident victims on Spanish interurban roads. Moreover, the provincial institutions emerge as key agents in improving road safety, due to their greater knowledge of the specific conditions and factors affecting each province. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Traffic signal design and simulation for vulnerable road users safety and bus preemption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lo, Shih-Ching; Huang, Hsieh-Chu

    2015-01-01

    Mostly, pedestrian car accidents occurred at a signalized interaction is because pedestrians cannot across the intersection safely within the green light. From the viewpoint of pedestrian, there might have two reasons. The first one is pedestrians cannot speed up to across the intersection, such as the elders. The other reason is pedestrians do not sense that the signal phase is going to change and their right-of-way is going to be lost. Developing signal logic to protect pedestrian, who is crossing an intersection is the first purpose of this study. In addition, to improve the reliability and reduce delay of public transportation service is the second purpose. Therefore, bus preemption is also considered in the designed signal logic. In this study, the traffic data of the intersection of Chong-Qing North Road and Min-Zu West Road, Taipei, Taiwan, is employed to calibrate and validate the signal logic by simulation. VISSIM 5.20, which is a microscopic traffic simulation software, is employed to simulate the signal logic. From the simulated results, the signal logic presented in this study can protect pedestrians crossing the intersection successfully. The design of bus preemption can reduce the average delay. However, the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal will influence the average delay of cars largely. Thus, whether applying the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal logic to an intersection or not should be evaluated carefully

  9. Traffic signal design and simulation for vulnerable road users safety and bus preemption

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lo, Shih-Ching; Huang, Hsieh-Chu [Department of Transportation Technology and Logistics Management, Chung Hua University, No. 707, Sec. 2, WuFu Rd., Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan (China)

    2015-01-22

    Mostly, pedestrian car accidents occurred at a signalized interaction is because pedestrians cannot across the intersection safely within the green light. From the viewpoint of pedestrian, there might have two reasons. The first one is pedestrians cannot speed up to across the intersection, such as the elders. The other reason is pedestrians do not sense that the signal phase is going to change and their right-of-way is going to be lost. Developing signal logic to protect pedestrian, who is crossing an intersection is the first purpose of this study. In addition, to improve the reliability and reduce delay of public transportation service is the second purpose. Therefore, bus preemption is also considered in the designed signal logic. In this study, the traffic data of the intersection of Chong-Qing North Road and Min-Zu West Road, Taipei, Taiwan, is employed to calibrate and validate the signal logic by simulation. VISSIM 5.20, which is a microscopic traffic simulation software, is employed to simulate the signal logic. From the simulated results, the signal logic presented in this study can protect pedestrians crossing the intersection successfully. The design of bus preemption can reduce the average delay. However, the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal will influence the average delay of cars largely. Thus, whether applying the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal logic to an intersection or not should be evaluated carefully.

  10. Driver and Traffic Safety Education: A Lesson Plan for the Residents of Gracewood State School and Hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latimer, Jonathan L.

    Outlined is a course of driver education and traffic safety taught to retarded residents of a state institution. Stressed is the importance of driver education for residents able to leave the institution. The philosophy of the program is given to emphasize individualizing instruction, instructing students who possess the potential for driving,…

  11. Alcohol-related road traffic accidents before and after the passing of the Road Traffic Safety Act in Croatia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Missoni, Eduard; Bozić, Boris; Missoni, Ivan

    2012-12-01

    The aim of this study was to gather enough data in order to formulate theory- and research-based recommendations to policy makers with the intention of decreasing the number of alcohol-related accidents and victims on Croatian roads. The data on the injured traffic participants and the share of participants under the influence of alcohol were collected from the police reports of the Traffic Police Department, Ministry of the Interior, written at the scene of the respective accidents. This documentation was then processed by descriptive epidemiology and analysed through a four-year period, before and after the passing of the New Road Traffic Safety Act in the Republic of Croatia, on 20 August 2004. In the first six months of 2005, after the passing of the Act, there were 3,275 accidents caused by the motorists under the influence of alcohol (12.5% of all the accidents), with 64 persons killed. Only 5 fatalities (8%) were caused by the drivers with measured blood alcohol concentration of up to 0.5 per thousand. As much as 27 fatalities (42%) were caused by the drivers with measured more than 1.5 per thousand, while half of the fatalities, 32 (50%), were caused by drivers with 0.5-1.5 per thousand. In this period, more than 451,000 violations were recorded, whereas in the same period of the previous year, the number of violations was about 519,000. A reduction of the total number of accidents is the result of the new regulation provision, according to which the incidents without human victims do not have to be reported to the police. The number of traffic accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol had increased by some dozen per cents, namely: 2005 - 6,219 persons, 2006- 6,590 persons, noting that in 2006 one less person was killed (123) compared to 2005. In 2005, drivers with alcohol concentration of 0-0.5 per thousand caused 1,096 accidents, with 14 fatalities, whereas in 2006 there were 1,164 accidents with 9 fatalities. A total of 2,314 accidents

  12. Traffic control concepts for incident clearance

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-01-01

    This document discusses various aspects of traffic control for incidents with the focus on the traffic control roles and responsibilities of the responders as well as the safety of the responders and the motoring public. It also recognizes that activ...

  13. IMPACT OF POLY-LINGUISTIC LOAD ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND MONITORING QUALITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Kharchenko

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available  We have defined the structure and basic characteristics of the poly-linguistic audio-acoustic channel within the framework of controller – pilot communication, and set limits of poly-linguistic load impact on air traffic control.

  14. DATA ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS AND THEIR CAUSES IN GOMEL FOR 2013 AND 2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. A. Azemsha

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Measures undertaken for improvement of road traffic safety presuppose clampdown on violation of road traffic regulations but no attention is paid to the fact that there is no possibility to ensure road traffic safety due to inconformity of roads to the modern safety requirements. Therefore reduction in accident rate is connected with some changes in approaches to designing, construction and maintenance of roads. Nowadays when the number of automobiles is extremely large and their number is increasing with every passing year driver’s professionalism becomes the most significant factor. In these circumstances the professionalism is demonstrated not so much while driving in bad road conditions as it was previously but the professionalism is more revealed in the case when it is necessary to drive in conditions of large workloads and high manoeuvring rate when a special important role is given to the capability to forecast a situation, in other words the capability to read the road. Moral climate on the road is no less important as well and it practically fully depends on a driver.The paper contains an analysis of the Gomel traffic police data on quantitative distribution of road traffic accidents and their victims according to the time of day and month, lighting conditions, weather conditions, age and sex factors, types of violations. Situations of traffic behavior, motivations of drivers and road users, drivers training have been shown in terms of impact on the road traffic accident risk. The paper considers a human factor which rather often causes an accident. An evaluation has been given to such factor as road speed of transport facilities which exerts a significant influence on an accident risk and its severity.

  15. Nonfatal road traffic injuries: can road safety campaigns prevent hazardous behavior? An Italian experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zampetti, R; Messina, G; Quercioli, C; Vencia, F; Genco, L; Di Bartolomeo, L; Nante, N

    2013-01-01

    Road traffic injuries are a widespread problem and are very difficult to prevent. The purpose of this study was to verify whether intensive versus basic road safety education programs are associated with different incidence and severity of nonfatal road injuries. The study had an ecological design and involved Local Health Authority One (LHA1) in Salerno, Italy, which includes 20 municipalities. Data on nonfatal road injuries occurring in the periods June to August 2003 and June to August 2008 were obtained from trained operators through the information system of the emergency department. All 20 municipalities received a basic community road safety education program (publicity campaign using bill-posting, brochures, mass media communication with press conferences, articles in local papers, radio and television interviews, and a dedicated LHA1 web site), and 12 municipalities also received an intensive education campaign (in secondary schools, community conferences, and activities organized by police and firefighters). The incidence and severity of nonfatal road traffic injuries were compared between June to August 2003 (before the campaign) and June to August 2008. The total number of injuries in all 20 municipalities in 2003 and 2008 was 907 and 755, respectively. The incidence of injuries decreased in the study period both in the 8 municipalities where only the basic campaign was run (difference in incidence = -0.4; P = .053) and in the 12 municipalities where the intensive campaign was implemented (difference in incidence = -0.5; P road safety education. This does not mean that such campaigns are useless (they are important to raise awareness) but that they should be supplemented with complementary activities in order to be really effective.

  16. ANALYSIS ON THE INFLUENCE OF ACCUMULATION EFFECT OF LANDSCAPE COLOR ON TRAFFIC SAFETY IN THE FOGGY SECTIONS OF EXPRESSWAYS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xilei Li

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The landscape color of expressways has a significant impact on a driver's visual response, thus affecting the incidence of expressways traffic accidents. Although this problem has been analyzed and discussed from different angles, there is rare quantitative analysis on the influence of accumulation effect of landscape color on the traffic safety in foggy sections of expressways. In this paper, the color combination and stroboflash of fog lamps on both sides of the road were designed from the perspective of the color research of road landscapes, and the cumulative effect of colors and stroboflash of fog lamps on the drivers’ mind was also studied. Then the interactive cumulative model based on landscape color and driving time in heavy-fog environment was established. Finally, multi-group of fog-lamp colors and spacing experiment program allowing a visibility of 200–500m in fog environments was designed by using Tobii eye-movement instrument and the UC-win/Road simulation software. According to the program, simulations were performed on several drivers to test the influence of road-landscape colors in foggy environments on the drivers' visual psychology. The results of the simulation experiment showed that the colors and stroboflash of fog lamps on both sides of the road have a positive effect on the drivers’ safety when the visibility range is 200–500m, and the driving speed is less than 70 km/h, in addition, the red and yellow were found to have the largest influence among all the studied colors. These results show that it is necessary to design landscape colors in the foggy sections of expressways.

  17. Traffic flow characteristic and capacity in intelligent work zones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-10-15

    Intellgent transportation system (ITS) technologies are utilized to manage traffic flow and safety in : highway work zones. Traffic management plans for work zones require queuing analyses to determine : the anticipated traffic backups, but the predi...

  18. The impact of a forced reduction in traffic volumes on urban air pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuval; Broday, D.M.

    2008-01-01

    The Middle East military conflict of summer 2006 resulted in a few weeks in which the city of Haifa, Israel, and its environs experienced very profound variations in the commercial and personal activities. Large industrial plants continued almost normal operations but activities of small scale industry, shopping, and personal commuting were drastically reduced, leading to a dramatic decrease in the commercial and personal traffic volumes. This period of reduced activity serves as a real life experiment for assessment and demonstration of the impact that human activity, and mainly road traffic, may have on the air pollution levels in a bustling middle-sized city. The analysis is made especially sharp and reliable due to the abruptness of the beginning and the end of the reduced activity period, its length, and the stable summer meteorological conditions in the eastern Mediterranean region. The reduced traffic volumes resulted in lowered levels of NO 2 , hydrocarbons and particulate matter. The decrease in these pollutants' mean concentration was significantly larger than the reduction in the mean traffic volume. Slightly higher mean O 3 concentrations were observed during the reduced traffic period. (author)

  19. An assessment of the skid resistance effect on traffic safety under wet-pavement conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pardillo Mayora, José M; Jurado Piña, Rafael

    2009-07-01

    Pavement-tire friction provides the grip that is required for maintaining vehicle control and for stopping in emergency situations. Statistically significant negative correlations of skid resistance values and wet-pavement accident rates have been found in previous research. Skid resistance measured with SCRIM and crash data from over 1750km of two-lane rural roads in the Spanish National Road System were analyzed to determine the influence of pavement conditions on safety and to assess the effects of improving pavement friction on safety. Both wet- and dry-pavement crash rates presented a decreasing trend as skid resistance values increased. Thresholds in SCRIM coefficient values associated with significant decreases in wet-pavement crash rates were determined. Pavement friction improvement schemes were found to yield significant reductions in wet-pavement crash rates averaging 68%. The results confirm the importance of maintaining adequate levels of pavement friction to safeguard traffic safety as well as the potential of pavement friction improvement schemes to achieve significant crash reductions.

  20. A Methodology for Safety Culture Impact Assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Kiyoon; Jae, Moosung [Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-05-15

    The purpose of this study is to develop methodology for assessing safety culture impact on nuclear power plants. A new methodology for assessing safety culture impact index has been developed and applied for the reference nuclear power plants. The developed SCII model might contribute to comparing the level of safety culture among nuclear power plants as well as to improving the safety of nuclear power plants. Safety culture is defined to be fundamental attitudes and behaviors of the plant staff which demonstrate that nuclear safety is the most important consideration in all activities conducted in nuclear power operation. Through several accidents of nuclear power plant including the Fukusima Daiichi in 2011 and Chernovyl accidents in 1986, the safety of nuclear power plant is emerging into a matter of interest. From the accident review report, it can be easily found out that safety culture is important and one of dominant contributors to accidents. However, the impact methodology for assessing safety culture has not been established analytically yet. It is difficult to develop the methodology for assessing safety culture impact quantitatively.

  1. A Methodology for Safety Culture Impact Assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Kiyoon; Jae, Moosung

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop methodology for assessing safety culture impact on nuclear power plants. A new methodology for assessing safety culture impact index has been developed and applied for the reference nuclear power plants. The developed SCII model might contribute to comparing the level of safety culture among nuclear power plants as well as to improving the safety of nuclear power plants. Safety culture is defined to be fundamental attitudes and behaviors of the plant staff which demonstrate that nuclear safety is the most important consideration in all activities conducted in nuclear power operation. Through several accidents of nuclear power plant including the Fukusima Daiichi in 2011 and Chernovyl accidents in 1986, the safety of nuclear power plant is emerging into a matter of interest. From the accident review report, it can be easily found out that safety culture is important and one of dominant contributors to accidents. However, the impact methodology for assessing safety culture has not been established analytically yet. It is difficult to develop the methodology for assessing safety culture impact quantitatively

  2. The Challenges of Field Testing the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) in an Operational Air Traffic Control Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoang, Ty; Swenson, Harry N.

    1997-01-01

    The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), the sequence and schedule tool of the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS), was evaluated at the Fort Worth Center (ZFW) in the summer of 1996. This paper describes the challenges encountered during the various phases of the TMA field evaluation, which included system (hardware and software) installation, personnel training, and data collection. Operational procedures were developed and applied to the evaluation process that would ensure air safety. The five weeks of field evaluation imposed minimal impact on the hosting facility and provided valuable engineering and human factors data. The collection of data was very much an opportunistic affair, due to dynamic traffic conditions. One measure of the success of the TMA evaluation is that, rather than remove TMA after the evaluation until it could be fully implemented, the prototype TMA is in continual use at ZFW as the fully operational version is readied for implementation.

  3. Traffic Flow Management Wrap-Up

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grabbe, Shon

    2011-01-01

    Traffic Flow Management involves the scheduling and routing of air traffic subject to airport and airspace capacity constraints, and the efficient use of available airspace. Significant challenges in this area include: (1) weather integration and forecasting, (2) accounting for user preferences in the Traffic Flow Management decision making process, and (3) understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of air traffic on the environment. To address these challenges, researchers in the Traffic Flow Management area are developing modeling, simulation and optimization techniques to route and schedule air traffic flights and flows while accommodating user preferences, accounting for system uncertainties and considering the environmental impacts of aviation. This presentation will highlight some of the major challenges facing researchers in this domain, while also showcasing recent innovations designed to address these challenges.

  4. Design and Development of Biometric Traffic Offence System (BTOS ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study was about the design and development of Biometric Traffic Offence System (BTOS) that would ease storage and retrieval of traffic offence cases in the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Traffic department of Nigeria Police force. The method used to manage traffic cases is manual; information ...

  5. Theoretical Aspects of Erroneous Actions During the Process of Decision Making by Air Traffic Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andersone Silva

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The Theoretical Aspects of Erroneous Actions During the Process of Decision Making by Air Traffic Control evaluates the factors affecting the operational decision-making of a human air traffic controller, interacting in a dynamic environment with the flight crew, surrounding aircraft traffic and environmental conditions of the airspace. This article reviews the challenges of air traffic control in different conditions, ranging from normal and complex to emergency and catastrophic. Workload factors and operating conditions make an impact on air traffic controllers’ decision-making. The proposed model compares various operating conditions within an assumed air traffic control environment subsequently comparing them against a theoretically “perfect” air traffic control system. A mathematical model of flight safety assessment has been proposed for the quantitative assessment of various hazards arising during the process of Air Traffic Control. The model assumes events of various severity and probability ranging from high frequency and low severity up to less likely and catastrophic ones. Certain limitations of the model have been recognised and further improvements for effective hazard evaluation have been suggested.

  6. Traffic flow wide-area surveillance system definition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allgood, G.O.; Ferrell, R.K.; Kercel, S.W.; Abston, R.A.; Carnal, C.L. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Moynihan, P.I. [Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (United States)

    1994-11-01

    Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance (TFWAS) is a system for assessing the state of traffic flow over a wide area for enhanced traffic control and improved traffic management and planning. The primary purpose of a TFWAS system is to provide a detailed traffic flow description and context description to sophisticated traffic management and control systems being developed or envisioned for the future. A successful TFWAS system must possess the attributes of safety, reconfigurability, reliability, and expandability. The primary safety premise of TFWAS is to ensure that no action or failure of the TFWAS system or its components can result in risk of injury to humans. A wide variety of communication techniques is available for use with TFWAS systems. These communication techniques can be broken down into two categories, landlines and wireless. Currently used and possible future traffic sensing technologies have been examined. Important criteria for selecting TFWAS sensors include sensor capabilities, costs, operational constraints, sensor compatibility with the infrastructure, and extent. TFWAS is a concept that can take advantage of the strengths of different traffic sensing technologies, can readily adapt to newly developed technologies, and can grow with the development of new traffic control strategies. By developing innovative algorithms that will take information from a variety of sensor types and develop descriptions of traffic flows over a wide area, a more comprehensive understanding of the traffic state can be provided to the control system to perform the most reasonable control actions over the entire wide area. The capability of characterizing the state of traffic over an entire region should revolutionize developments in traffic control strategies.

  7. Air Traffic Control: Observations on FAA's Air Traffic Control Modernization Program

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    1999-01-01

    In 1981, FAA began a multibillion-dollar modernization effort to improve the safety, capacity, and efficiency of this system to meet the increasing demand for air traffic services and to replace aging equipment...

  8. Impact Analysis of Land Use on Traffic Congestion Using Real-Time Traffic and POI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tianqi Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposed a new method to describe, compare, and classify the traffic congestion points in Beijing, China, by using the online map data and further revealed the relationship between traffic congestion and land use. The data of the point of interest (POI and the real-time traffic was extracted from an electronic map of the area in the fourth ring road of Beijing. The POIs were quantified based on the architectural area of the land use; the congestion points were identified based on real-time traffic. Then, the cluster analysis using the attributes of congestion time was conducted to identify the main traffic congestion areas. The result of a linear regression analysis between the congestion time and the land use showed that the influence of the high proportion of commercial land use on the traffic congestion was significant. Also, we considered five types of land use through performing a linear regression analysis between the congestion time and the ratio of four types of land use. The results showed that the reasonable ratio of land use types could efficiently reduce congestion time. This study makes contributions to the policy-making of urban land use.

  9. Evaluation of countermeasures for red light running by traffic simulator-based surrogate safety measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Changju; So, Jaehyun Jason; Ma, Jiaqi

    2018-01-02

    The conflicts among motorists entering a signalized intersection with the red light indication have become a national safety issue. Because of its sensitivity, efforts have been made to investigate the possible causes and effectiveness of countermeasures using comparison sites and/or before-and-after studies. Nevertheless, these approaches are ineffective when comparison sites cannot be found, or crash data sets are not readily available or not reliable for statistical analysis. Considering the random nature of red light running (RLR) crashes, an inventive approach regardless of data availability is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of each countermeasure face to face. The aims of this research are to (1) review erstwhile literature related to red light running and traffic safety models; (2) propose a practical methodology for evaluation of RLR countermeasures with a microscopic traffic simulation model and surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM); (3) apply the proposed methodology to actual signalized intersection in Virginia, with the most prevalent scenarios-increasing the yellow signal interval duration, installing an advance warning sign, and an RLR camera; and (4) analyze the relative effectiveness by RLR frequency and the number of conflicts (rear-end and crossing). All scenarios show a reduction in RLR frequency (-7.8, -45.5, and -52.4%, respectively), but only increasing the yellow signal interval duration results in a reduced total number of conflicts (-11.3%; a surrogate safety measure of possible RLR-related crashes). An RLR camera makes the greatest reduction (-60.9%) in crossing conflicts (a surrogate safety measure of possible angle crashes), whereas increasing the yellow signal interval duration results in only a 12.8% reduction of rear-end conflicts (a surrogate safety measure of possible rear-end crash). Although increasing the yellow signal interval duration is advantageous because this reduces the total conflicts (a possibility of total

  10. Impact of road traffic accidents on the elderly.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Etehad, H; Yousefzadeh-Chabok, Sh; Davoudi-Kiakalaye, A; Moghadam Dehnadi, A; Hemati, H; Mohtasham-Amiri, Z

    2015-01-01

    Older adults are a vulnerable road user group with high mortality and morbidity in road crash. The aim of this study was to show pattern of road traffic injuries in this special aging group. In a cross sectional study, pre-hospital emergency system reports, hospital and police records of all motor vehicle collisions injured above 60 years old who were admitted to Pour-Sina hospital from April 2011 to March 2012 were studied. Demographic data, characteristic of road traffic incidents and in-hospital medical profiles were derived. Data were analyzed with SPSS ver. 18. Differences between demographic and injuries situation were calculated by chi square test. A p-value of road accident injured. Mean age of them was 70.9 ± 6.7 years. Most of them were male (74.7%). 40.5% were pedestrians, 22.1% were car occupants and 19.1% were motorcyclists.76.7% had multiple trauma. Head and neck were the most prevalent regions of injured. Total in-hospital mortality rate was 10.1% that was higher in old elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists in comparison to young elderly (16.1% vs. 7.9%) and other type of victims (ρroad accident injured. Mean age of them was 70.9 ± 6.7 years. Most of them were male (74.7%). 40.5% were pedestrians, 22.1% were car occupants and 19.1% were motorcyclists.76.7% had multiple trauma. Head and neck were the most prevalent regions of injured. Total in-hospital mortality rate was 10.1% that was higher in old elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists in comparison to young elderly (16.1% vs. 7.9%) and other type of victims (ρroad traffic injuries in this group especially in pedestrians should be taken into consideration and strategies aimed at the road-user safety including periodic medical examination and improvement of road structure and facilities. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  11. Traffic analysis toolbox volume XI : weather and traffic analysis, modeling and simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-01

    This document presents a weather module for the traffic analysis tools program. It provides traffic engineers, transportation modelers and decisions makers with a guide that can incorporate weather impacts into transportation system analysis and mode...

  12. Global collaboration on road traffic injury prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peden, Margie

    2005-06-01

    Worldwide, nearly 1.2 million people are killed in road traffic crashes every year and 20 million to 50 million more are injured or disabled. These injuries account for 2.1% of global mortality and 2.6% of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost. Low- and middle-income countries account for about 85% of the deaths and 90% of the DALYs lost annually. Without appropriate action, by 2020, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease. The economic cost of road traffic crashes is enormous. Globally it is estimated that US$518 billion is spent on road traffic crashes with low- and middle-income countries accounting for US$65 billion--more than these countries receive in development assistance. But these costs are just the tip of the iceberg. For everyone killed, injured or disabled by a road traffic crash there are countless others deeply affected. Many families are driven into poverty by the expenses of prolonged medical care, loss of a family breadwinner or the added burden of caring for the disabled. There is an urgent need for global collaboration on road traffic injury prevention. Since 2000, WHO has stepped up its response to the road safety crisis by firstly developing a 5-year strategy for road traffic injury prevention and following this by dedicating World Health Day 2004 to road safety and launching the WHO/World Bank World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention at the global World Health Day event in Paris, France. This short article highlights the main messages from the World Report and the six recommendations for action on road safety at a national and international level. It goes on to briefly discuss other international achievements since World Health Day and calls for countries to take up the challenge of implementing the recommendations of the World Report.

  13. An LTE implementation based on a road traffic density model

    OpenAIRE

    Attaullah, Muhammad

    2013-01-01

    The increase in vehicular traffic has created new challenges in determining the behavior of performance of data and safety measures in traffic. Hence, traffic signals on intersection used as cost effective and time saving tools for traffic management in urban areas. But on the other hand the signalized intersections in congested urban areas are the key source of high traffic density and slow traffic. High traffic density causes the slow network traffic data rate between vehicle to vehicle and...

  14. The assessment of traffic emissions impacts on crops pollution and contamination

    OpenAIRE

    Scientific Committee on Phytosanitary and Environment

    2009-01-01

    Impact of traffic emissions on contamination of soils and consequently of crops is usualy mentioned, but not many studies providing real and valid data were published in the CR. This is a pilot study for specific area. The aim of it is to assess potential influence of the Prague Airport on fruits and crops pollution grown around it.

  15. The impact of the Thai motorcycle transition on road traffic injury: Thai Cohort Study results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berecki-Gisolf, Janneke; Yiengprugsawan, Vasoontara; Kelly, Matthew; McClure, Roderick; Seubsman, Sam-ang; Sleigh, Adrian

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of motorcycle to car transitioning and urbanisation on traffic injury rates in Thailand. Analysis of two consecutive surveys of a large national cohort study. Thailand. The data derived from 57,154 Thai Cohort Study (TCS) participants who provided relevant data on both the 2005 and 2009 surveys. Motorcycle and car traffic crash injury self-reported in 2009, with twelve months' recall. In 2009, 5608(10%) participants reported a traffic crash injury. Most crashes involved a motorcycle (74%). Car access increased and motorcycle use decreased between 2005 and 2009. Among those who used a motorcycle at both time points, traffic injury incidence was 2.8 times greater compared to those who did not use a motorcycle at either time point. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to test longitudinal and cross sectional factors associated with traffic crash injury: in the adjusted model, cars were negatively and motorcycles positively associated with injury. Living in an urban area was not injury protective in the adjusted model of traffic crash injury. Ongoing urbanisation in Thailand can be expected to lead to further reductions in road traffic injuries based on transition from motorcycles to cars in urban areas. Cities, however, do not provide an intrinsically safer traffic environment. To accommodate a safe transition to car use in Thailand, traffic infrastructural changes anticipating the growing car density in urban areas is warranted.

  16. Impacts of temporary traffic control measures on vehicular emissions during the Asian games in Guangzhou, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Zhiliang; Zhang, Yingzhi; Shen, Xianbao; Wang, Xintong; Wu, Ye; He, Kebin

    2013-01-01

    To guarantee good traffic and air quality during the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, the government carried out two traffic control Drills before the Games and adopted traffic control measures during the Games. Vehicle activities before and during the first and second Drills, and during the Games, were surveyed. Based on the data under investigation, the impacts of control measures on traffic volumes and driving characteristics were analyzed during the first and second Drills, and the Games. The emission reduction of traffic control measures was also evaluated during the three stages using the MOBILE-China model. The results show that there were significant effects of implementing temporary traffic control measures on transportation activity and vehicular emissions. During the first and second Drills, and the Games, the average traffic volumes in monitored roads decreased, and the average speed of vehicles increased significantly The co-effects of traffic flow reduction, traffic congestion improvement, and the banning of high-emitting vehicles helped to greatly reduce the estimated emissions from motor vehicles in Guangzhou during the first and second Drills, and the Games. Estimated vehicular emissions were reduced by 38-52% during the first Drill and 28-36% for the second Drill. During the Asian Games, vehicular emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NO), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter vehicular emissions of CO, HC, NOx, and PM10. Motor vehicles have become the most prevalent source of emissions and subsequently air pollution within Chinese cities. Understanding the impacts that different control measures have on vehicular emissions is very important in order to be able to control vehicle emissions. The results of this study will be very helpful for the further control of vehicle emissions in Guangzhou in the future. In addition, the effects of temporary transportation control measures will provide

  17. Controlling traffic jams by time modulating the safety distance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gaididei, Yu B.; Gorria, C.; Berkemer, R.

    2013-01-01

    The possibility of controlling traffic dynamics by applying high-frequency time modulation of traffic flow parameters is studied. It is shown that the region of the car density where the uniform (free) flow is unstable changes in the presence of time modulation compared with the unmodulated case....

  18. 75 FR 74128 - Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) Compliance Dates

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-30

    ... existing non-compliant devices based on what it believes to be a reasonable balance of the safety benefits... public works agencies, that State and local governments must balance with highway safety and traffic... service life of sign sheeting materials. \\7\\ D. Ripley. Quantifying the Safety Benefits of Traffic Control...

  19. Taking Over Control From Highly Automated Vehicles in Complex Traffic Situations: The Role of Traffic Density.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gold, Christian; Körber, Moritz; Lechner, David; Bengler, Klaus

    2016-06-01

    The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of traffic density and verbal tasks on takeover performance in highly automated driving. In highly automated vehicles, the driver has to occasionally take over vehicle control when approaching system limits. To ensure safety, the ability of the driver to regain control of the driving task under various driving situations and different driver states needs to be quantified. Seventy-two participants experienced takeover situations requiring an evasive maneuver on a three-lane highway with varying traffic density (zero, 10, and 20 vehicles per kilometer). In a between-subjects design, half of the participants were engaged in a verbal 20-Questions Task, representing speaking on the phone while driving in a highly automated vehicle. The presence of traffic in takeover situations led to longer takeover times and worse takeover quality in the form of shorter time to collision and more collisions. The 20-Questions Task did not influence takeover time but seemed to have minor effects on the takeover quality. For the design and evaluation of human-machine interaction in takeover situations of highly automated vehicles, the traffic state seems to play a major role, compared to the driver state, manipulated by the 20-Questions Task. The present results can be used by developers of highly automated systems to appropriately design human-machine interfaces and to assess the driver's time budget for regaining control. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

  20. Quantitative safety assessment of air traffic control systems through system control capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Jingjing

    Quantitative Safety Assessments (QSA) are essential to safety benefit verification and regulations of developmental changes in safety critical systems like the Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems. Effectiveness of the assessments is particularly desirable today in the safe implementations of revolutionary ATC overhauls like NextGen and SESAR. QSA of ATC systems are however challenged by system complexity and lack of accident data. Extending from the idea "safety is a control problem" in the literature, this research proposes to assess system safety from the control perspective, through quantifying a system's "control capacity". A system's safety performance correlates to this "control capacity" in the control of "safety critical processes". To examine this idea in QSA of the ATC systems, a Control-capacity Based Safety Assessment Framework (CBSAF) is developed which includes two control capacity metrics and a procedural method. The two metrics are Probabilistic System Control-capacity (PSC) and Temporal System Control-capacity (TSC); each addresses an aspect of a system's control capacity. And the procedural method consists three general stages: I) identification of safety critical processes, II) development of system control models and III) evaluation of system control capacity. The CBSAF was tested in two case studies. The first one assesses an en-route collision avoidance scenario and compares three hypothetical configurations. The CBSAF was able to capture the uncoordinated behavior between two means of control, as was observed in a historic midair collision accident. The second case study compares CBSAF with an existing risk based QSA method in assessing the safety benefits of introducing a runway incursion alert system. Similar conclusions are reached between the two methods, while the CBSAF has the advantage of simplicity and provides a new control-based perspective and interpretation to the assessments. The case studies are intended to investigate the

  1. Playground Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Prevention Fall Prevention Playground Safety Poisoning Prevention Road Traffic Safety Sports Safety Get Email Updates To receive ... at the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Playground Safety website . References U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Injuries and ...

  2. Causes of road traffic accidents in Juba

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akway M. Cham

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Road traffic accidents (RTAs are a major cause of death and disability in South Sudan. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether violation of traffic rules is the main cause of RTAs. Method: A cross sectional study design was used with quantitative data covering January – December 2014. The main objective of the research was to understand the epidemiology of RTAs in order to develop preventive measures. A total of 1725cases from road RTAs data were extracted from the directorate of traffic police Central Equatoria state Juba and Juba teaching hospital. Results: Most (99.5% of the RTA drivers were not under the influence of alcohol. Most accidents were caused by male drivers (99%. The highest number of RTAs took place in August (11%. Drivers of private vehicles caused most accidents (37%. Most drivers (46% were aged 20-30 years. RTAs occurred most often on city roads (89.83%. Conclusion: This leads us to conclude that a comprehensive safety system is needed that are premised on the idea of community-based awareness of traffic rules and safety regulations. Resources are limited so there is a need to harness local resources including the local community. More efforts are needed to improve road safety education among the youth/integrate safety into road design.

  3. URBAN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT ANALYSIS BY USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meltem SAPLIOĞLU

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, traffic accidents that cause more social and economic losses than that of natural disasters,have become a national problem in Turkey. To solve this problem and to reduce the casualties, road safety programs are tried to be developed. It is necessary to develop the most effective measures with low investment cost due to limited budgets allocated to such road safety programs. The most important program is to determine dangerous locations of traffic accidents and to improve these sections from the road safety view point. New Technologies are driving a cycle of continuous improvement that causes rapid changes in the traffic engineering and any engineering services within it. It is obvious that this developed services will be the potential for forward-thinking engineering studies to take a more influence role. In this study, Geographic Information System (GIS was used to identify the hazardous locations of traffic accidents in Isparta. Isparta city map was digitized by using Arcinfo 7.21. Traffic accident reports occurred between 1998-2002 were obtained from Directory of Isparta Traffic Region and had been used to form the database. Topology was set up by using Crash Diagrams and Geographic Position Reference Systems. Tables are formed according to the obtained results and interpreted.

  4. 36 CFR 1004.13 - Obstructing traffic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... road, except as authorized by the Executive Director, or in the event of an accident or other condition... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Obstructing traffic. 1004.13 Section 1004.13 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC SAFETY § 1004.13...

  5. 36 CFR 4.13 - Obstructing traffic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC SAFETY § 4.13 Obstructing traffic. The following are prohibited: (a) Stopping or parking a vehicle upon a park road, except as authorized by the superintendent, or in the event of an accident or other condition beyond the control of the operator. (b) Operating a vehicle so slowly as to...

  6. Bilateral Carotid Artery Dissection after High Impact Road Traffic Accident

    OpenAIRE

    Michael Kelly; Marcus Bradley; Ankur Srivastava

    2008-01-01

    A 58 year old man was involved in a high impact road traffic incident and was admitted for observation. Asymptomatic for the first 24 hours, he collapsed with symptoms and signs consistent with a cerebrovascular accident. Computed tomography angiogram (CTA) and Magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA) demonstrated bilateral internal carotid artery dissections and a left middle cerebral artery infarct. It was not considered appropriate to attempt stenting or other revascularistation. The patient was...

  7. A statistical analysis of the impact of advertising signs on road safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yannis, George; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Papantoniou, Panagiotis; Voulgari, Chrisoula

    2013-01-01

    This research aims to investigate the impact of advertising signs on road safety. An exhaustive review of international literature was carried out on the effect of advertising signs on driver behaviour and safety. Moreover, a before-and-after statistical analysis with control groups was applied on several road sites with different characteristics in the Athens metropolitan area, in Greece, in order to investigate the correlation between the placement or removal of advertising signs and the related occurrence of road accidents. Road accident data for the 'before' and 'after' periods on the test sites and the control sites were extracted from the database of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, and the selected 'before' and 'after' periods vary from 2.5 to 6 years. The statistical analysis shows no statistical correlation between road accidents and advertising signs in none of the nine sites examined, as the confidence intervals of the estimated safety effects are non-significant at 95% confidence level. This can be explained by the fact that, in the examined road sites, drivers are overloaded with information (traffic signs, directions signs, labels of shops, pedestrians and other vehicles, etc.) so that the additional information load from advertising signs may not further distract them.

  8. Simulating the impacts of on-street vehicle parking on traffic operations on urban streets using cellular automation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jingxu; Li, Zhibin; Jiang, Hang; Zhu, Senlai; Wang, Wei

    2017-02-01

    In recent years, many bicycle lanes on urban streets are replaced with vehicle parking places. Spaces for bicycle riding are reduced, resulting in changes in bicycle and vehicle operational features. The objective of this study is to estimate the impacts of on-street parking on heterogeneous traffic operation on urban streets. A cellular automaton (CA) model is developed and calibrated to simulate bicycle lane-changing on streets with on-street parking. Two types of street segments with different bicycle lane width are considered. From the simulation, two types of conflicts between bicycles and vehicles are identified which are frictional conflicts and blocking conflicts. Factors affecting the frequency of conflicts are also identified. Based on the results, vehicle delay is estimated for various traffic situations considering the range of occupancy levels for on-street parking. Later, a numerical network example is analyzed to estimate the network impact of on-street parking on traffic assignment and operation. Findings of the study are helpful to policies and design regarding on-street vehicle parking to improve the efficiency of traffic operations.

  9. Evaluating the Impact of Criminalizing Drunk Driving on Road-Traffic Injuries in Guangzhou, China: A Time-Series Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Ang; Chen, Renjie; Qi, Yongqing; Chen, Ailan; Chen, Xinyu; Liang, Zijing; Ye, Jianjun; Liang, Qing; Guo, Duanqiang; Li, Wanglin; Li, Shuangming; Kan, Haidong

    2016-08-05

    Road-traffic injury (RTI) is a major public-health concern worldwide. However, the effectiveness of laws criminalizing drunk driving on the improvement of road safety in China is not known. We collected daily aggregate data on RTIs from the Guangzhou First-Aid Service Command Center from 2009 to 2012. We performed an interrupted time-series analysis to evaluate the change in daily RTIs before (January 1, 2009, to April 30, 2011) and after (May 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012) the criminalization of drunk driving. We evaluated the impact of the intervention on RTIs using the overdispersed generalized additive model after adjusting for temporal trends, seasonality, day of the week, and holidays. Daytime/Nighttime RTIs, alcoholism, and non-traffic injuries were analyzed as comparison groups using the same model. From January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2012, we identified a total of 54 887 RTIs. The standardized daily number of RTIs was almost stable in the pre-intervention period but decreased gradually in the post-intervention period. After the intervention, the standardized daily RTIs decreased 9.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.5%-12.8%). There were similar decreases for the daily daytime and nighttime RTIs. In contrast, the standardized daily cases of alcoholism increased 38.8% (95% CI, 35.1%-42.4%), and daily non-traffic injuries increased 3.6% (95% CI, 1.4%-5.8%). This time-series study provides scientific evidence suggesting that the criminalization of drunk driving from May 1, 2011, may have led to moderate reductions in RTIs in Guangzhou, China.

  10. Traffic safety in the U.S.: re-examining major opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivak, Michael; Luoma, Juha; Flannagan, Michael J; Bingham, C Raymond; Eby, David W; Shope, Jean T

    2007-01-01

    This article examines five major road-safety risk factors: exceeding posted speed limits, not using safety belts, driving while intoxicated, nighttime driving, and young drivers. The importance of each of these factors is documented, known effective countermeasures (both policy and technology based) are discussed, and impediments to the implementation of these countermeasures in the United States are examined. Based on current understanding of the five major risk factors, and of the available countermeasures, there appear to be a variety of opportunities to make substantial gains in road safety using existing knowledge. The limited implementation of a variety of known countermeasures therefore appears to be inconsistent with high-level, strategic goals to improve road safety. Consequently, a recommendation is made to comprehensively re-examine the balance between the countermeasures discussed in this article and economic, mobility, and privacy concerns. IMPACT ON PUBLIC SAFETY: Such a re-examination is likely to result in broad support for these countermeasures, with a consequent major improvement in road safety.

  11. Lower limb and associated injuries in frontal-impact road traffic collisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ammori, Mohannad B; Eid, Hani O; Abu-Zidan, Fikri M

    2016-03-01

    To study the relationship between severity of injury of the lower limb and severity of injury of the head, thoracic, and abdominal regions in frontal-impact road traffic collisions. Consecutive hospitalised trauma patients who were involved in a frontal road traffic collision were prospectively studied over 18 months. Patients with at least one Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) ≥3 or AIS 2 injuries within two AIS body regions were included. Patients were divided into two groups depending on the severity of injury to the head, chest or abdomen. Low severity group had an AIS chest or abdominal injuries. Eighty-five patients were studied. The backward likelihood logistic regression model defining independent factors affecting severity of head injuries was highly significant (p =0.01, nagelkerke r square = 0.1) severity of lower limb injuries was the only significant factor (p=0.013) having a negative correlation with head injury (Odds ratio of 0.64 (95% CI: 0.45-0.91). Occupants who sustain a greater severity of injury to the lower limb in a frontal-impact collision are likely to be spared from a greater severity of head injury.

  12. An Improved Algebraic Method for Transit Signal Priority Scheme and Its Impact on Traffic Emission

    OpenAIRE

    Ji, Yanjie; Hu, Bo; Han, Jing; Tang, Dounan

    2014-01-01

    Transit signal priority has a positive effect on improving traffic congestion and reducing transit delay and also has an influence on traffic emission. In this paper, an optimal transit signal priority scheme based on an improved algebraic method was developed and its impact on vehicle emission was evaluated as well. The improved algebraic method was proposed on the basis of classical algebraic method and has improvements in three aspects. First, the calculation rules of split loss are more r...

  13. Dissociative Tendencies and Traffic Incidents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valle, Virginia

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the relationship between dissociative experiences and road traffic incidents (crashes and traffic tickets in drivers (n=295 from Mar del Plata (Argentina city. A self-report questionnaire was applied to assess traffic crash involvement and sociodemographic variables. Dissociative tendencies were assessed by a modified version of the DES scale. To examine differences in DES scores tests of the difference of means were applied. Drivers who reported to be previously involved in traffic incidents obtained higher puntuations in the dissociative experiences scale than drivers who did not report such events. This result is observed for the total scale and for the three sub-scales (absorption, amnesia and depersonalization. However, differences appeared mainly for minor damage collisions. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of dissociative tendencies as a risk factor in road traffic safety.

  14. Impact Analysis of Land Use on Traffic Congestion Using Real-Time Traffic and POI

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Tianqi; Sun, Lishan; Yao, Liya; Rong, Jian

    2017-01-01

    This paper proposed a new method to describe, compare, and classify the traffic congestion points in Beijing, China, by using the online map data and further revealed the relationship between traffic congestion and land use. The data of the point of interest (POI) and the real-time traffic was extracted from an electronic map of the area in the fourth ring road of Beijing. The POIs were quantified based on the architectural area of the land use; the congestion points were identified based on ...

  15. Traffic mortality and the role of minor roads.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Langevelde, Frank; van Dooremalen, Coby; Jaarsma, Catharinus F

    2009-01-01

    Roads have large impacts on wildlife, as they form one of the principal causes of mortality, and disturbance and fragmentation of habitat. These impacts are mainly studied and mitigated on major roads. It is, however, a widespread misconception that most animals are killed on major roads. In this paper, we argue that minor roads have a larger impact on wildlife with respect to habitat destruction, noise load and traffic mortality. We use data on traffic related deaths in badgers (Meles meles) in The Netherlands to illustrate that traffic mortality is higher on minor roads. We ask for a more extensive investigation of the environmental impacts of minor roads. Moreover, we argue that the success of mitigation on roads drastically increases when both major and minor roads are integrated in the planning of traffic flows. Therefore, we propose a strategy based on the concept of a "traffic-calmed area". Traffic-calmed areas create opportunities for wildlife by decreasing limitations for animal movement. We ask for further studies to estimate what size traffic-calmed areas should be to maintain minimum viable animal populations.

  16. Evaluation of dynamic message signs and their potential impact on traffic flow : [research summary].

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-01

    The objective of this research was to understand the potential impact of DMS messages on traffic : flow and evaluate their accuracy, timeliness, relevance and usefulness. Additionally, Bluetooth : sensors were used to track and analyze the diversion ...

  17. Evaluation of criteria for developing traffic safety materials for Latinos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streit-Kaplan, Erica L; Miara, Christine; Formica, Scott W; Gallagher, Susan Scavo

    2011-03-01

    This quantitative study assessed the validity of guidelines that identified four key characteristics of culturally appropriate Spanish-language traffic safety materials: language, translation, formative evaluation, and credible source material. From a sample of 190, the authors randomly selected 12 Spanish-language educational materials for analysis by 15 experts. Hypotheses included that the experts would rate materials with more of the key characteristics as more effective (likely to affect behavioral change) and rate materials originally developed in Spanish and those that utilized formative evaluation (e.g., pilot tests, focus groups) as more culturally appropriate. Although results revealed a weak association between the number of key characteristics in a material and the rating of its effectiveness, reviewers rated materials originally created in Spanish and those utilizing formative evaluation as significantly more culturally appropriate. The findings and methodology demonstrated important implications for developers and evaluators of any health-related materials for Spanish speakers and other population groups.

  18. The role of vegetation in mitigating air quality impacts from traffic emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    R. Baldauf; L. Jackson; G. Hagler; I. Vlad; G. McPherson; D. Nowak; T. Cahill; M. Zhang; R. Cook; C. Bailey; P. Wood

    2011-01-01

    In April 2010, a multidisciplinary group of researchers and policy-makers met to discuss the state-of-the-science regarding the potential of roadside vegetation to mitigate near-road air quality impacts. Concerns over population exposures to traffic-generated pollutants near roads have grown with an increasing number of health studies reporting links between proximity...

  19. Analysis of Traffic Parameter Estimation and Its Impacts on Wireless Channel

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    徐玉滨; 沙学军; 强蔚

    2004-01-01

    Wide band or broadband access was paid much attention with the development of radio transmission technique. The wireless access control procedure play an important role in this type of system and efficiency of control algorithm has a great impact on throughput of channel resource. Based on wide band network control model and the characteristics of radio channel, this paper proposed a channel traffic estimation method and then performed a dynamic parameter control procedure and give detail analysis on estimation error and its impact on channel throughput and delay performance. Computation and simulation of system performance show a positive solution on system design.

  20. Cycling to work in Brazil: users profile, risk behaviors, and traffic accident occurrence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacchieri, Giancarlo; Barros, Aluísio J D; Dos Santos, Janaína V; Gigante, Denise P

    2010-07-01

    In 2006, we carried out a cross-sectional study in the urban area of Pelotas, Southern Brazil, with the aim of outlining the profile of bicycle commuters, analyzing their use of safety equipment and risk behaviors and the association between these variables and involvement in traffic accidents in the previous 12 months. This study was based on the baseline survey carried out prior to an educational intervention aimed at reducing accidents among cyclists. The sample included 1133 male subjects aged 20 years or more, and who used a bicycle for commuting. Crude and adjusted analyses were carried out using Poisson regression. We recorded a total of 152 reported traffic accidents in the 12 months preceding the interview, involving 10.8% of subjects. Most risk behaviors studied and the use of safety equipment showed no significant association with accidents. Only commuting by bicycle seven days per week, as opposed to five or six, and a combination of extremely imprudent behaviors such as zigzagging through traffic, riding after ingesting alcohol, and high-speed riding were found to be risk factors for accidents. Our findings suggest that in the context where the study was done (poor road signaling, limited policing, aggressive driving) changing cyclist behavior may not have substantial impact in terms of accident reduction before other road traffic interventions are implemented. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. A Comparison of Traffic Operations among Beijing and Several International Megacities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuanzhou Yang

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available High-Efficient traffic system is very important for economy and society of cities. Previous studies on the traffic comparison mostly took a city as a whole, but ignored the differences among areas inside the city. But in fact, the traffic congestion in different areas with a city is mostly different. Taking typical mega cities like Beijing, London, New York, and Tokyo as objects, this paper makes cross-comparison in the traffic operation and performance based on intelligent algorithm. Transportation infrastructure and travel demand data are discussed and unbalanced transport system is found in Beijing because of the conflict between too much traffic demand and defect road networks. From the aspects of traffic load, operational efficiency and safety, indexes including traffic v/c ratio, average vehicle speed and accident rate are selected to assess the performance of road traffic. It is concluded that road networks of Beijing have the worst performance compared with other three mega-cities and the primary reasons are the inappropriate distribution of utilization rate among the freeways, arterials, and local streets, and the high traffic concentration in urban area. So, several measures are recommended to improve the operation efficiency of traffic in Beijing especially for the green intelligent traffic system. Keywords: Traffic operation; Operational efficiency; Intelligent traffic system (ITS; Traffic load; traffic safety; Intelligent algorithm.

  2. Differential Rollover Risk in Vehicle-to-Traffic Barrier Collisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabauer, Douglas J.; Gabler, Hampton C.

    2009-01-01

    In the roadside safety community, there has been debate over the influence of vehicle and barrier type on rollover rates in traffic barrier crashes. This study investigated rollover rates between sport utility vehicles (SUVs), pickup trucks, and cars in vehicle-traffic barrier crashes and has examined the effect of barrier type on rollover risk for concrete barrier and metal barrier impacts. The analysis included 955 barrier impact cases that were selected from 11-years of in-depth crash data available through the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) / Crashworthiness Data System (CDS). In real world tow-away level longitudinal barrier collisions, the most important predictors of vehicle rollover were found to be vehicle type and whether the vehicle was tracking prior to barrier impact. Based on binary logistic regression, SUVs were found to have 8 times the risk of rollover as cars in barrier impacts. Although pickups were found to have an increased risk of rollover compared to cars, the risk was not as pronounced as that found for SUVs. This finding has direct implications for the full scale crash testing of longitudinal barriers as the testing procedures have been predicated on the assumption that the pickup truck provides a critical or worst case impact scenario. In towaway crashes, our study does not support the notion that concrete barriers have a higher risk of vehicle rollover than metal beam barriers. PMID:20184839

  3. Distinguishing between Rural and Urban Road Segment Traffic Safety Based on Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial Regression Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuedong Yan

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the traffic crash rate, total crash frequency, and injury and fatal crash frequency were taken into consideration for distinguishing between rural and urban road segment safety. The GIS-based crash data during four and half years in Pikes Peak Area, US were applied for the analyses. The comparative statistical results show that the crash rates in rural segments are consistently lower than urban segments. Further, the regression results based on Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB regression models indicate that the urban areas have a higher crash risk in terms of both total crash frequency and injury and fatal crash frequency, compared to rural areas. Additionally, it is found that crash frequencies increase as traffic volume and segment length increase, though the higher traffic volume lower the likelihood of severe crash occurrence; compared to 2-lane roads, the 4-lane roads have lower crash frequencies but have a higher probability of severe crash occurrence; and better road facilities with higher free flow speed can benefit from high standard design feature thus resulting in a lower total crash frequency, but they cannot mitigate the severe crash risk.

  4. Impact of traffic-related air pollution on acute changes in cardiac autonomic modulation during rest and physical activity: a cross-over study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole-Hunter, Tom; Weichenthal, Scott; Kubesch, Nadine; Foraster, Maria; Carrasco-Turigas, Glòria; Bouso, Laura; Martínez, David; Westerdahl, Dane; de Nazelle, Audrey; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark

    2016-01-01

    People are often exposed to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) during physical activity (PA), but it is not clear if PA modifies the impact of TRAP on cardiac autonomic modulation. We conducted a panel study among 28 healthy adults in Barcelona, Spain to examine how PA may modify the impact of TRAP on cardiac autonomic regulation. Participants completed four 2-h exposure scenarios that included either rest or intermittent exercise in high- and low-traffic environments. Time- and frequency-domain measures of heart rate variability (HRV) were monitored during each exposure period along with continuous measures of TRAP. Linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the impact of TRAP on HRV as well as potential effect modification by PA. Exposure to TRAP was associated with consistent decreases in HRV; however, exposure-response relationships were not always linear over the broad range of exposures. For example, each 10 μg/m(3) increase in black carbon was associated with a 23% (95% CI: -31, -13) decrease in high frequency power at the low-traffic site, whereas no association was observed at the high-traffic site. PA modified the impact of TRAP on HRV at the high-traffic site and tended to weaken inverse associations with measures reflecting parasympathetic modulation (P ≤ 0.001). Evidence of effect modification at the low-traffic site was less consistent. The strength and direction of the relationship between TRAP and HRV may vary across exposure gradients. PA may modify the impact of TRAP on HRV, particularly at higher concentrations.

  5. Modeling Driving Behavior at Roundabouts: Impact of Roundabout Layout and Surrounding Traffic on Driving Behavior

    OpenAIRE

    Zhao, Min; Käthner, David; Söffker, Dirk; Jipp, Meike; Lemmer, Karsten

    2017-01-01

    Driving behavior prediction at roundabouts is an important challenge to improve driving safety by supporting drivers with intelligent assistance systems. To predict the driving behavior effciently steering wheel status was proven to have robust predictability based on a Support Vector Machine algorithm. Previous research has not considered potential effects of roundabout layout and surrounding traffic on driving behavior, but that consideration can certainly improve the prediction results....

  6. Air Traffic Management Research at NASA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farley, Todd

    2012-01-01

    The U.S. air transportation system is the most productive in the world, moving far more people and goods than any other. It is also the safest system in the world, thanks in part to its venerable air traffic control system. But as demand for air travel continues to grow, the air traffic control systems aging infrastructure and labor-intensive procedures are impinging on its ability to keep pace with demand. And that impinges on the growth of our economy. Part of NASA's current mission in aeronautics research is to invent new technologies and procedures for ATC that will enable our national airspace system to accommodate the increasing demand for air transportation well into the next generation while still maintaining its excellent record for safety. It is a challenging mission, as efforts to modernize have, for decades, been hamstrung by the inability to assure safety to the satisfaction of system operators, system regulators, and/or the traveling public. In this talk, we'll provide a brief history of air traffic control, focusing on the tension between efficiency and safety assurance, and we'll highlight some new NASA technologies coming down the pike.

  7. The influence of traffic signal solutions on self-reported road-crossing behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Stasi, Leandro L; Megías, Alberto; Cándido, Antonio; Maldonado, Antonio; Catena, Andrés

    2015-01-07

    Injury to pedestrians is a major safety hazard in many countries. Since the beginning of the last century, modern cities have been designed around the use of motor vehicles despite the unfavourable interactions between the vehicles and pedestrians. This push towards urbanization resulted in a substantial number of crashes and fatalities involving pedestrians every day, all over the world. Thus, improving the design of urban cities and townships is a pressing issue for modern society. The study presented here provides a characterization of pedestrian safety problems, with the emphasis on signalized crosswalks (i.e. traffic signal) design solutions. We tested the impact of seven different traffic light configurations (steady [green, yellow, and red], flashing [green, yellow, and red], and light off) on pedestrian self-reported road-crossing behavior, using a 11-point scale -ranging from 0 ("I never cross in this situation") to 10 ("I always cross in this situation"). Results showed that mandatory solutions (steady green vs. steady red) are the best solutions to avoid unsafe pedestrian behaviors while crossing controlled intersections (frequency of crossing: Mgreen = 9.4 ± 1 vs. Mred = 2.6 ± 2). These findings offer important guidelines for the design of future traffic signals for encouraging a pedestrian/transit-friendly environment.

  8. Impact of traffic volume and composition on the air quality and pedestrian exposure in urban street canyon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakowska, Agata; Wong, Ka Chun; Townsend, Thomas; Chan, Ka Lok; Westerdahl, Dane; Ng, Simon; Močnik, Griša; Drinovec, Luka; Ning, Zhi

    2014-12-01

    Vehicle emissions are identified as a major source of air pollution in metropolitan areas. Emission control programs in many cities have been implemented as part of larger scale transport policy interventions to control traffic pollutants and reduce public health risks. These interventions include provision of traffic-free and low emission zones and congestion charging. Various studies have investigated the impact of urban street configurations, such as street canyon in urban centers, on pollutants dispersion and roadside air quality. However, there are few investigations in the literature to study the impact of change of fleet composition and street canyon effects on the on-road pollutants concentrations and associated roadside pedestrian exposure to the pollutants. This study presents an experimental investigation on the traffic related gas and particle pollutants in and near major streets in one of the most developed business districts in Hong Kong, known as Central. Both street canyon and open roadway configurations were included in the study design. Mobile measurement techniques were deployed to monitor both on-road and roadside pollutants concentrations at different times of the day and on different days of a week. Multiple traffic counting points were also established to concurrently collect data on traffic volume and fleet composition on individual streets. Street canyon effects were evident with elevated on-road pollutants concentrations. Diesel vehicles were found to be associated with observed pollutant levels. Roadside black carbon concentrations were found to correlate with their on-road levels but with reduced concentrations. However, ultrafine particles showed very high concentrations in roadside environment with almost unity of roadside/on-road ratios possibly due to the accumulation of primary emissions and secondary PM formation. The results from the study provide useful information for the effective urban transport design and bus route

  9. Evaluating the Impact of Criminalizing Drunk Driving on Road-Traffic Injuries in Guangzhou, China: A Time-Series Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ang Zhao

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: Road-traffic injury (RTI is a major public-health concern worldwide. However, the effectiveness of laws criminalizing drunk driving on the improvement of road safety in China is not known. Methods: We collected daily aggregate data on RTIs from the Guangzhou First-Aid Service Command Center from 2009 to 2012. We performed an interrupted time-series analysis to evaluate the change in daily RTIs before (January 1, 2009, to April 30, 2011 and after (May 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012 the criminalization of drunk driving. We evaluated the impact of the intervention on RTIs using the overdispersed generalized additive model after adjusting for temporal trends, seasonality, day of the week, and holidays. Daytime/Nighttime RTIs, alcoholism, and non-traffic injuries were analyzed as comparison groups using the same model. Results: From January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2012, we identified a total of 54 887 RTIs. The standardized daily number of RTIs was almost stable in the pre-intervention period but decreased gradually in the post-intervention period. After the intervention, the standardized daily RTIs decreased 9.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.5%–12.8%. There were similar decreases for the daily daytime and nighttime RTIs. In contrast, the standardized daily cases of alcoholism increased 38.8% (95% CI, 35.1%–42.4%, and daily non-traffic injuries increased 3.6% (95% CI, 1.4%–5.8%. Conclusions: This time-series study provides scientific evidence suggesting that the criminalization of drunk driving from May 1, 2011, may have led to moderate reductions in RTIs in Guangzhou, China.

  10. A novel downlink scheduling strategy for traffic communication system based on TD-LTE technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ting; Zhao, Xiangmo; Gao, Tao; Zhang, Licheng

    2016-01-01

    There are many existing classical scheduling algorithms which can obtain better system throughput and user equality, however, they are not designed for traffic transportation environment, which cannot consider whether the transmission performance of various information flows could meet comprehensive requirements of traffic safety and delay tolerance. This paper proposes a novel downlink scheduling strategy for traffic communication system based on TD-LTE technology, which can perform two classification mappings for various information flows in the eNodeB: firstly, associate every information flow packet with traffic safety importance weight according to its relevance to the traffic safety; secondly, associate every traffic information flow with service type importance weight according to its quality of service (QoS) requirements. Once the connection is established, at every scheduling moment, scheduler would decide the scheduling order of all buffers' head of line packets periodically according to the instant value of scheduling importance weight function, which calculated by the proposed algorithm. From different scenario simulations, it can be verified that the proposed algorithm can provide superior differentiated transmission service and reliable QoS guarantee to information flows with different traffic safety levels and service types, which is more suitable for traffic transportation environment compared with the existing popularity PF algorithm. With the limited wireless resource, information flow closed related to traffic safety will always obtain priority scheduling right timely, which can help the passengers' journey more safe. Moreover, the proposed algorithm cannot only obtain good flow throughput and user fairness which are almost equal to those of the PF algorithm without significant differences, but also provide better realtime transmission guarantee to realtime information flow.

  11. Impact of Primary User Traffic on Adaptive Transmission for Cognitive Radio with Partial Relay Selection

    KAUST Repository

    Rao, Anlei

    2012-09-08

    In a cognitive relay system, the secondary user is permitted to transmit data via a relay when licensed frequency bands are detected to be free. Previous studies mainly focus on reducing or limiting the interference of the secondary transmission on the primary users. On the other hand, however, the primary user traffic will also affect the data transmission performance of the secondary users. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the primary user traffic on the bit error rate (BER) of the secondary transmission, when the secondary user adopts adaptive transmission with a relay partially selected. From the numerical results, we can see that the primary user traffic seriously degrades average BER. The worse-link partial selection can perform almost as well as the global selection when the channel conditions of the source-relay links and the relay-destination links differ a lot. In addition, although the relay selection improves the spectral efficiency of the secondary transmission, numerical results show that it only has slight impact on the overall average BER, so that the robustness of the system will not be affected by the relay selection.

  12. Necessity, contents and evaluation of traffic education. [previously known as: Contents and assessment of traffic education programmes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    2006-01-01

    Traffic education is a necessary part of the integrated approach to road safety, because this teaches and corrects behaviour that is clearly related to road safety. The effects of education increase when informal education, for example by parents, is combined with formal education in schools, and

  13. Traffic accidents on expressways: new threat to China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jinbao; Deng, Wei

    2012-01-01

    As China is building one of the largest expressway systems in the world, expressway safety problems have become serious concerns to China. This article analyzed the trends in expressway accidents in China from 1995 to 2010 and examined the characteristics of these accidents. Expressway accident data were obtained from the Annual Report for Road Traffic Accidents published by the Ministry of Public Security of China. Expressway mileage data were obtained from the National Statistics Yearbook published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted based on these data. Expressway deaths increased by 10.2-fold from 616 persons in 1995 to 6300 persons in 2010, and the average annual increase was 17.9 percent over the past 15 years, and the overall other road traffic deaths was -0.33 percent. China's expressway mileage accounted for only 1.85 percent of highway mileage driven in 2010, but expressway deaths made up 13.54 percent of highway traffic deaths. The average annual accident lethality rate [accident deaths/(accident deaths + accident injuries)] for China's expressways was 27.76 percent during the period 1995 to 2010, which was 1.33 times higher than the accident lethality rate of highway traffic accidents. China's government should pay attention to expressway construction and safety interventions during the rapid development period of expressways. Related causes, such as geographic patterns, speeding, weather conditions, and traffic flow composition, need to be studied in the near future. An effective and scientific expressway safety management services system, composed of a speed monitoring system, warning system, and emergency rescue system, should be established in developed and underdeveloped provinces in China to improve safety on expressway.

  14. Photonics approach to traffic signs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Litwin, Dariusz; Galas, Jacek; CzyŻewski, Adam; Rymsza, Barbara; Kornalewski, Leszek; Kryszczyński, Tadeusz; Mikucki, Jerzy; Wikliński, Piotr; Daszkiewicz, Marek; Malasek, Jacek

    2016-12-01

    The automotive industry has been always a driving force for all economies. Despite of its beneficial meaning to every society it brings also many issues including wide area of road safety. The latter has been enforced by the increasing number of cars and the dynamic development of the traffic as a whole. Road signs and traffic lights are crucial in context of good traffic arrangement and its fluency. Traffic designers are used to treat horizontal road signs independently of vertical signs. However, modern light sources and growing flexibility in shaping optical systems create opportunity to design more advanced and smart solutions. In this paper we present an innovative, multidisciplinary approach that consists in tight interdependence of different traffic signals. We describe new optical systems together with their influence on the perception of the road user. The analysis includes maintenance and visibility in different weather conditions. A special attention has been focused on intersections of complex geometry.

  15. Traffic violations in Guangdong Province of China: speeding and drunk driving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Guangnan; Yau, Kelvin K W; Gong, Xiangpu

    2014-03-01

    The number of speeding- and drunk driving-related injuries in China surged in the years immediately preceding 2004 and then began to decline. However, the percent decrease in the number of speeding and drunk driving incidents (decrease by 22%) is not proportional to the corresponding percent decrease in number of automobile accident-related injuries (decrease by 47%) from the year 2004 to 2010 (Traffic Management Bureau, Ministry of Public Security, Annual Statistical Reports on Road Traffic Accidents). Earlier studies have established traffic violations as one of the major risks threatening road safety. In this study, we examine in greater detail two important types of traffic violation events, speeding and drunk driving, and attempt to identify significant risk factors associated with these types of traffic violations. Risk factors in several different dimensions, including driver, vehicle, road and environmental factors, are considered. We analyze the speeding (N=11,055) and drunk driving (N=10,035) data for the period 2006-2010 in Guangdong Province, China. These data, obtained from the Guangdong Provincial Security Department, are extracted from the Traffic Management Sector-Specific Incident Case Data Report and are the only comprehensive and official source of traffic accident data in China. Significant risk factors associating with speeding and drunk driving are identified. We find that several factors are associated with a significantly higher probability of both speeding and drunk driving, particularly male drivers, private vehicles, the lack of street lighting at night and poor visibility. The impact of other specific and unique risk factors for either speeding or drunk driving, such as hukou, road type/grades, commercial vehicles, compulsory third party insurance and vehicle safety status, also require particular attention. Legislative or regulatory measures targeting different vehicle types and/or driver groups with respect to the various driver

  16. ALCOHOL RELATED TRAFFIC SAFETY LEGISLATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E.B.R. DESAPRIYA

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available There is a substantial amount of evidence from experimental studies to indicate that a variety of individual skills are impaired at blood alcohol concentrations (BACs well below 0.05%. Epidemiological studies indicate that the risk of a crash increases sharply for drivers with BACs below 0.05%. The correlation between drunk driving and the risk of traffic accidents has been established on the individual as well as the aggregate level. The BAC level legally permitted is a public policy decision by legislators, while scientists can present experimental and epidemiological evidence indicating the BAC level at which psychomotor skills deteriorate and accident probabilities increase. There is considerable epidemiological evidence to support the fact that the risk of alcohol impaired drivers being involved in traffic crashes rises with increasing BAC's. By contrast, the evidence on the BAC at which a driver should be regarded as committing an offence has been the subject of much debate and various legislative decisions. Historically, per se laws specify BAC levels which are a compromise figure intended to reflect both the point at which a driver becomes significantly more likely to be involved in an accident than a comparative driver with a zero BAC and that which is politically acceptable, but falls within the BAC region of increased accident liability. Therefore, the per se legislation in most countries has not kept pace with scientific progress. This study suggests that if saving lives on the road is an important issue, then, passing laws that incorporate scientific and epidemiological studies, is necessary.

  17. Global impact of road traffic on atmospheric chemical composition and on ozone climate forcing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niemeier, Ulrike; Granier, Claire; Kornblueh, Luis; Walters, Stacy; Brasseur, Guy P.

    2006-05-01

    Automobile emissions are known to contribute to local air pollution and to photochemical smog in urban areas. The impact of road traffic on the chemical composition of the troposphere at the global scale and on climate forcing is less well quantified. Calculations performed with the chemical transport MOZART-2 model show that the concentrations of ozone and its precursors (NOx, CO, and hydrocarbons) are considerably enhanced in most regions of the Northern Hemisphere in response to current surface traffic. During summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, road traffic has increased the zonally averaged ozone concentration by more than 10% in the boundary layer and in the extratropics by approximately 6% at 500 hPa and 2.5% at 300 hPa. The summertime surface ozone concentrations have increased by typically 1-5 ppbv in the remote regions and by 5-20 ppbv in industrialized regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The corresponding ozone-related radiative forcing is 0.05 Wm-2. In order to assess the sensitivity of potential changes in road traffic intensity, two additional model cases were considered, in which traffic-related emissions in all regions of the world were assumed to be on a per capita basis the same as in Europe and in the United States, respectively. In the second and most dramatic case, the surface ozone concentration increases by 30-50 ppbv (50-100%) in south Asia as compared to the present situation. Under this assumption, the global radiative forcing due to traffic-generated ozone reaches 0.27 Wm-2.

  18. Epidemiology of Deaths from Road Traffic Accidents in Nigeria: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiology of deaths from Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) in Nigeria using Lagos State as a baseline study and to suggest preventive and corrective safety measures towards reducing the traffic accidents in the study area. The reported number of deaths from road traffic accidents ...

  19. Monitoring road traffic congestion using a macroscopic traffic model and a statistical monitoring scheme

    KAUST Repository

    Zeroual, Abdelhafid; Harrou, Fouzi; Sun, Ying; Messai, Nadhir

    2017-01-01

    Monitoring vehicle traffic flow plays a central role in enhancing traffic management, transportation safety and cost savings. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach for detection of traffic congestion. Specifically, we combine the flexibility and simplicity of a piecewise switched linear (PWSL) macroscopic traffic model and the greater capacity of the exponentially-weighted moving average (EWMA) monitoring chart. Macroscopic models, which have few, easily calibrated parameters, are employed to describe a free traffic flow at the macroscopic level. Then, we apply the EWMA monitoring chart to the uncorrelated residuals obtained from the constructed PWSL model to detect congested situations. In this strategy, wavelet-based multiscale filtering of data has been used before the application of the EWMA scheme to improve further the robustness of this method to measurement noise and reduce the false alarms due to modeling errors. The performance of the PWSL-EWMA approach is successfully tested on traffic data from the three lane highway portion of the Interstate 210 (I-210) highway of the west of California and the four lane highway portion of the State Route 60 (SR60) highway from the east of California, provided by the Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS). Results show the ability of the PWSL-EWMA approach to monitor vehicle traffic, confirming the promising application of this statistical tool to the supervision of traffic flow congestion.

  20. Monitoring road traffic congestion using a macroscopic traffic model and a statistical monitoring scheme

    KAUST Repository

    Zeroual, Abdelhafid

    2017-08-19

    Monitoring vehicle traffic flow plays a central role in enhancing traffic management, transportation safety and cost savings. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach for detection of traffic congestion. Specifically, we combine the flexibility and simplicity of a piecewise switched linear (PWSL) macroscopic traffic model and the greater capacity of the exponentially-weighted moving average (EWMA) monitoring chart. Macroscopic models, which have few, easily calibrated parameters, are employed to describe a free traffic flow at the macroscopic level. Then, we apply the EWMA monitoring chart to the uncorrelated residuals obtained from the constructed PWSL model to detect congested situations. In this strategy, wavelet-based multiscale filtering of data has been used before the application of the EWMA scheme to improve further the robustness of this method to measurement noise and reduce the false alarms due to modeling errors. The performance of the PWSL-EWMA approach is successfully tested on traffic data from the three lane highway portion of the Interstate 210 (I-210) highway of the west of California and the four lane highway portion of the State Route 60 (SR60) highway from the east of California, provided by the Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS). Results show the ability of the PWSL-EWMA approach to monitor vehicle traffic, confirming the promising application of this statistical tool to the supervision of traffic flow congestion.

  1. Area-wide traffic calming for preventing traffic related injuries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunn, F; Collier, T; Frost, C; Ker, K; Roberts, I; Wentz, R

    2003-01-01

    It is estimated that by 2020 road traffic crashes will have moved from ninth to third in the world disease burden ranking, as measured in disability adjusted life years, and second in developing countries. The identification of effective strategies for the prevention of traffic related injuries is of global health importance. Area-wide traffic calming schemes that discourage through traffic on residential roads is one such strategy. To evaluate the effectiveness of area-wide traffic calming in preventing traffic related crashes, injuries, and deaths. We searched the following electronic databases: Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialised Register, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE and TRANSPORT (NTIS, TRIS, TRANSDOC). We searched the web sites of road safety organisations, handsearched conference proceedings, checked reference lists of relevant papers and contacted experts in the area. The search was not restricted by language or publication status. Randomised controlled trials, and controlled before-after studies of area-wide traffic calming schemes. Two reviewers independently extracted data on type of study, characteristics of intervention and control areas, and length of data collection periods. Before and after data were collected on the total number of road traffic crashes, all road user deaths and injuries, pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and road user deaths. The statistical package STATA was used to calculate rate ratios for each study, which were then pooled to give an overall estimate using a random effects model. We found no randomised controlled trials, but 16 controlled before-after trials met our inclusion criteria. Seven studies were done in Germany, six in the UK, two in Australia and one in the Netherlands. There were no studies in low or middle income countries. Eight trials reported the number of road traffic crashes resulting in deaths. The pooled rate ratio was 0.63 (0.14, 2.59 95% CI). Sixteen studies reported the number

  2. Web traffic and firm performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Farooq, Omar; Aguenaou, Samir

    2013-01-01

    Does the traffic generated by websites of firms signal anything to stock market participants? Does higher web-traffic translate into availability of more information and therefore lower agency problems? And if answers to above questions are in affirmative, does higher web-traffic traffic translate...... into better firm performance? This paper aims to answer these questions by documenting a positive relationship between the extent of web-traffic and firm performance in the MENA region during the 2010. We argue that higher web-traffic lowers the agency problems in firms by disseminating more information...... to stock market participants. Consequently, lower agency problems translate into better performance. Furthermore, we also show that agency reducing role of web-traffic is more pronounced in regimes where information environment is already bad. For example, our results show stronger impact of web...

  3. The Effect of Educational Intervention Based on PRECEDE-PROCEED Model on Promoting Traffic Safety Behaviors in Primary Schools Students of Tabriz in 2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeed Omidi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and Objectives: Pedestrian injuries are a public health problem and one of the major victims of road traffic injuries are children. Education is one of the most important strategies to solve traffic problems. To achieve effective results, education should be defined on the basis of theories and models. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of PRECEDE-PROCEED based intervention for promoting traffic safety behaviors in elementary schools students of Tabriz. Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. The sample included 75 elementary students who were randomly selected from two different schools. Data was collected using a questionnaire including the PRECEDE-PROCEED model constructs and demographic variables. Participants completed questionnaires before and one month after intervention. The intervention consisted of six sessions and was conducted in experimental group schools. The data were analyzed with fisher’s exact test, chi square, t-test and paired t-test, using SPSS-18 software. Results: The average age of participants was 10.11 ± 0.68 years. There was no significant differences in demographic variables between the two groups before the intervention (P>0.05. The findings showed that after the educational intervention, significant differences were observed in knowledge, attitude, enabling factors, reinforcing factors and behavior scores in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusions: An educational intervention based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED model could promote students’ traffic safety behaviors.

  4. Road safety and road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia

    OpenAIRE

    Mansuri, Farah A.; Al-Zalabani, Abdulmohsen H.; Zalat, Marwa M.; Qabshawi, Reem I.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives: To identify the changing trends and crucial preventive approaches to road traffic accidents (RTAs) adopted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the last 2.5 decades, and to analyze aspects previously overlooked. Methods: This systematic review was based on evidence of RTAs in KSA. All articles published during the last 25 years on road traffic accident in KSA were analyzed. This study was carried out from December 2013 to May 2014 in the Department of Family and Community Med...

  5. A System Supporting the Analysis of Motorway Traffic Accidents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davide Anghinolfi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This work presents a business intelligence tool for monitoring traffic accidents on motorways and supporting decisions relevant to road safety. The system manages information on road characteristics, traffic accidents and traffic volumes and produces reports for monitoring the evolution of key performance indicators for road safety, supporting decisions on actions for risk mitigation and safety improvements for road users. The paper illustrates the different types of analyses performed by the system. Pattern based analysis is used to evaluate safety performance indicators for the road sections matching defined patterns. Two different road segmentation algorithms, used to identify the most critical road sections according to various severity indicators, are presented and discussed. Differential analysis compares the value of selected severity indicators before and after the implementation of an intervention on a road. Finally, a graphical user interface allows the accident locations to be visualized and accidents with specific characteristics to be highlighted. The system was evaluated on the data collected between 2009 and 2011 for the A15 motorway in Italy, connecting Parma to La Spezia.

  6. Effects of urban sprawl and vehicle miles traveled on traffic fatalities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Jiho; Park, Sungjin; Jang, Kitae

    2015-01-01

    Previous research suggests that urban sprawl increases auto-dependency and that excessive auto use increases the risk of traffic fatalities. This indirect effect of urban sprawl on traffic fatalities is compared to non-vehicle miles traveled (VMT)-related direct effect of sprawl on fatalities. We conducted a path analysis to examine the causal linkages among urban sprawl, VMT, traffic fatalities, income, and fuel cost. The path diagram includes 2 major linkages: the direct relationship between urban sprawl and traffic fatalities and the indirect effect on fatalities through increased VMT in sprawling urban areas. To measure the relative strength of these causal linkages, path coefficients are estimated using data collected nationally from 147 urbanized areas in the United States. Through both direct and indirect paths, urban sprawl is associated with greater numbers of traffic fatalities, but the direct effect of sprawl on fatalities is more influential than the indirect effect. Enhancing traffic safety can be achieved by impeding urban sprawl and encouraging compact development. On the other hand, policy tools reducing VMT may be less effective than anticipated for traffic safety.

  7. Traffic Safety through Driver Assistance and Intelligence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heiner Bubb

    2011-05-01

    BMW, Daimler, Audi, Citroen, Lexus, VW, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Chevrolet, Saab and Bosch. Both the contributions of research work concerning driving behavior analysis and driver assistance systems have to be aligned with a permanently updated interaction within the system of driver, vehicle and road traffic environment.

  8. Heterogeneity of road traffic accident rate in the Russian cities and the need of usage various methods of transport safety management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrov, A. I.; Petrova, D. A.

    2017-10-01

    The article considers one of the topical problems of road safety management at the federal level - the problem of the heterogeneity of road traffic accident rate in Russian cities. The article analyzes actual statistical data on road traffic accident rate in the administrative centers of Russia. The histograms of the distribution of the values of two most important road accidents characteristics - Social Risk HR and Severity Rate of Road Accidents - formed in 2016 in administrative centers of Russia are presented. On the basis of the regression model of the statistical connection between Severity Rate of Road Accidents and Social Risk HR, a classification of the Russian cities based on the level of actual road traffic accident rate was developed. On the basis of this classification a differentiated system of priority methods for organizing the safe functioning of transport systems in the cities of Russia is proposed.

  9. Estimating Safety Effects of Green-Man Countdown Devices at Signalized Pedestrian Crosswalk Based on Cellular Automata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Chai

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Safety effects of Green-Man Countdown Device (GMCD at signalized pedestrian crosswalks are evaluated. Pedestrian behavior at GMCD and non-GMCD crosswalks is observed and analyzed. A microsimulation model is developed based on field observations to estimate safety performance. Simulation outputs allow analysts to assess the impacts of GMCD at various conditions with different geometric layout, traffic and pedestrian volumes, and the green time. According to simulation results, it is found that the safety impact of GMCD is affected by traffic condition as well as different time duration within green-man signal phase. In general, GMCD increases average walking velocity, especially during the last few seconds. The installation of GMCD improves safety performance generally, especially at more crowded crossings. Conflict severity is increased during last 10 s after GMCD installation. Findings from this study suggest that the current practice, which is to install GMCD at more crowded crosswalks or near the school zone, is effective. Moreover, at crosswalks with GMCD, longer all red signal phase is suggested to improve pedestrian safety during intergreen period.

  10. Flight to the future : human factors in air traffic control

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-01-01

    The nation's air traffic control system is responsible for managing a complex : mixture of air traffic from commercial, general, corporate, and military : aviation. Despite a strong safety record, the system does suffer occasional : serious disruptio...

  11. Investigating traffic light violations by cyclists in Dublin City Centre.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Matthew; Caulfield, Brian

    2015-11-01

    This research examines the behaviour of cyclists in Dublin City with specific regard to red light running. A number of specific research questions are raised by this study. These questions address the impact of different infrastructure types on red light running, as well as the behavioural patterns and demographics of offending cyclists. Two data collection methods were used to gather information on cyclists in Dublin City - an observational survey and an online questionnaire. The observational surveys examined cyclist compliance with different traffic signal systems and the impact of on-road and off-road cycle infrastructure. An online questionnaire was used to get direct feedback from cyclists in Dublin City on the reasons (if any) they decide to commit infringement at traffic lights. With the recent growth of cycling in Dublin City (as well as many other international cities) it is vital to accommodate and manage this growing demand by ensuring the safety and road discipline of cyclists. The next few years will be crucial for the continued development of cycling in Dublin, particularly due to the increasing investment by transport planners in cycle infrastructure. It is therefore important to identify now the main factors which influence cyclist's decisions to break red lights in order to guide local traffic authorities in their efforts to reduce such transgressions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Ultrasonic sensors in urban traffic driving-aid systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, Luciano; Milanés, Vicente; Torre-Ferrero, Carlos; Godoy, Jorge; Oria, Juan P; de Pedro, Teresa

    2011-01-01

    Currently, vehicles are often equipped with active safety systems to reduce the risk of accidents, most of which occur in urban environments. The most prominent include Antilock Braking Systems (ABS), Traction Control and Stability Control. All these systems use different kinds of sensors to constantly monitor the conditions of the vehicle, and act in an emergency. In this paper the use of ultrasonic sensors in active safety systems for urban traffic is proposed, and the advantages and disadvantages when compared to other sensors are discussed. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) for urban traffic based on ultrasounds is presented as an application example. The proposed system has been implemented in a fully-automated prototype vehicle and has been tested under real traffic conditions. The results confirm the good performance of ultrasonic sensors in these systems.

  13. Safety or efficiency?: strategies and conflicting interests in Belgian road-safety policy, 1920-1940.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Donald

    2015-04-01

    After World War I, automobile ownership became a mass phenomenon in Belgium, as in most other industrialized countries. Unfortunately, road-casualty figures soon followed. By the mid-1930s, traffic accidents had become the main cause of accidental deaths. There was clearly a need for a renewed road-safety policy. Public authorities in Belgium, however, were suspiciously reluctant to take new measures. While there was a public outcry for more severe regulation of motorized traffic and several MPs backed bills to this effect, motoring associations lobbied against traffic legislation reforms. In order to understand the Belgian government's hesitation, this article looks at the key strategies of the actors involved in the decision-making process concerning traffic policy. Such strategies included, among others: the creation of detailed traffic-accident statistics, revision of traffic legislation, and support for mass traffic-education campaigns. Eventually, public officials stepped in and created a new technocratic traffic regime in the 1930s, yet their prime concern was not road-user safety, but the efficiency of traffic streams.

  14. 网联辅助驾驶混合交通流稳定性及安全性分析%Analysis on stability and safety for mixed traffic flow with connected auxiliary driving

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    秦严严; 王昊; 王炜

    2018-01-01

    Focusing on the traffic flow randomly mixed with regular manual driven vehicles and con-nected auxiliary driven vehicles,the stability and the safety are analyzed.A mathematical expecta-tion is proposed for the case of degeneration from the connected vehicles to regular vehicles, based on the car-following characteristics of connected vehicles that follow regular vehicles and degenerate to regular vehicles.Then,a generalized method for stability analysis of the mixed traffic flow with connected vehicles is built.The full velocity difference model and the intelligent driver model are se-lected as the car-following models of regular and connected vehicles,respectively.Based on this,a case study of stability of the mixed traffic flow is analyzed.Additionally,numerical simulations are designed for the traffic safety impacts on the on-ramp bottleneck,considering the randomness of rela-tive numbers and spatial locations of regular and connected vehicles.Research results show that the connected vehicles are helpful to improve traffic flow stability and safety.The critical value of the connected vehicle market rate,which must satisfy the needs of stable state of the mixed traffic flow, is larger when the equilibrium speed is closer to the speed range from 9.8 to 10.6 m/s.Moreover, the mixed traffic flow can be stable at any equilibrium speed if the connected vehicle market rate is greater than 0.37.Besides,the traffic flow of the connected vehicles can promote the safety level by 54.29%to 71.36%,compared with the traffic flow of regular vehicles.%针对常规人工驾驶车辆和网联辅助驾驶车辆随机混合的交通流,分析其稳定性与安全性.基于紧跟常规车的网联车退化为常规车的跟驰特性,提出了网联车随机退化为常规车情形的数学期望表

  15. Determinants of road traffic safety: New evidence from Australia using state-space analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nghiem, Son; Commandeur, Jacques J F; Connelly, Luke B

    2016-09-01

    This paper examines the determinants of road traffic crash fatalities in Queensland for the period 1958-2007 using a state-space time-series model. In particular, we investigate the effects of policies that aimed to reduce drink-driving on traffic fatalities, as well as indicators of the economic environment that may affect exposure to traffic, and hence affect the number of accidents and fatalities. The results show that the introduction of a random breath testing program in 1988 was associated with a 11.3% reduction in traffic fatalities; its expansion in 1998 was associated with a 26.2% reduction in traffic fatalities; and the effect of the "Safe4life" program, which was introduced in 2004, was a 14.3% reduction in traffic fatalities. Reductions in economic activity are also associated with reductions in road fatalities: we estimate that a one percent increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a 0.2% reduction in traffic fatalities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. MODELS OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ERRORS PREVENTION IN TERMINAL CONTROL AREAS UNDER UNCERTAINTY CONDITIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Kharchenko

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: the aim of this study is to research applied models of air traffic controllers’ errors prevention in terminal control areas (TMA under uncertainty conditions. In this work the theoretical framework descripting safety events and errors of air traffic controllers connected with the operations in TMA is proposed. Methods: optimisation of terminal control area formal description based on the Threat and Error management model and the TMA network model of air traffic flows. Results: the human factors variables associated with safety events in work of air traffic controllers under uncertainty conditions were obtained. The Threat and Error management model application principles to air traffic controller operations and the TMA network model of air traffic flows were proposed. Discussion: Information processing context for preventing air traffic controller errors, examples of threats in work of air traffic controllers, which are relevant for TMA operations under uncertainty conditions.

  17. Advancing sustainable safety : National Road Safety Outlook for 2005-2020.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wegman, F.C.M. & Aarts, L.T. (eds.)

    2006-01-01

    Advancing Sustainable Safety: National Road Safety Outlook for 2005-2020 is the follow-up to Naar een duurzaam veilig wegverkeer [Towards sustainably safe road traffic] (Koornstra et al., 1992). Advancing Sustainable Safety is a critique of Sustainable Safety. In this advanced version, adaptations

  18. The impact of traffic emissions on air quality in the Berlin-Brandenburg region - a case study on cycling scenarios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuik, F.; Lauer, A.; von Schneidemesser, E.; Butler, T. M.

    2016-12-01

    Many European cities continue to struggle with exceedances of NO2 limit values at measurement sites near roads, of which a large contribution is attributed to emissions from traffic. In this study, we explore how urban air quality can be improved with different traffic measures using the example of the Berlin-Brandenburg region. In order to simulate urban background air quality we use the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem) at a horizontal resolution of 1km. We use emission input data at a horizontal resolution of 1km obtained by downscaling TNO-MACC III emissions based on local proxy data including population and traffic densities. In addition we use a statistical approach combining the simulated urban background concentrations with information on traffic densities to estimate NO2 at street level. This helps assessing whether the emission scenarios studied here can lead to significant reductions in NO2 concentrations at street level. The emission scenarios in this study represent a range of scenarios in which car traffic is replaced with bicycle traffic. Part of this study was an initial discussion phase with stakeholders, including policy makers and NGOs. The discussions have shown that the different stakeholders are interested in a scientific assessment of the impact of replacing car traffic with bicycle traffic in the Berlin-Brandenburg urban area. Local policy makers responsible for city planning and implementing traffic measures can make best use of scientific modeling results if input data and scenarios are as realistic as possible. For these reasons, the scenarios cover very idealized optimistic ("all passenger cars are replaced by bicycles") and pessimistic ("all cyclists are replaced by cars") scenarios to explore the sensitivity of simulated urban background air quality to these changes, as well as additional scenarios based on city-specific data to analyze more realistic situations. Of particular interest is how these impact

  19. A Computer Program for Assessing Nuclear Safety Culture Impact

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Kiyoon; Jae, Moosung [Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    Through several accidents of NPP including the Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 and Chernobyl accidents in 1986, a lack of safety culture was pointed out as one of the root cause of these accidents. Due to its latent influences on safety performance, safety culture has become an important issue in safety researches. Most of the researches describe how to evaluate the state of the safety culture of the organization. However, they did not include a possibility that the accident occurs due to the lack of safety culture. Because of that, a methodology for evaluating the impact of the safety culture on NPP's safety is required. In this study, the methodology for assessing safety culture impact is suggested and a computer program is developed for its application. SCII model which is the new methodology for assessing safety culture impact quantitatively by using PSA model. The computer program is developed for its application. This program visualizes the SCIs and the SCIIs. It might contribute to comparing the level of the safety culture among NPPs as well as improving the management safety of NPP.

  20. Investigation of Roadway Geometric and Traffic Flow Factors for Vehicle Crashes Using Spatiotemporal Interaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill, G.; Sakrani, T.; Cheng, W.; Zhou, J.

    2017-09-01

    Traffic safety is a major concern in the transportation industry due to immense monetary and emotional burden caused by crashes of various severity levels, especially the injury and fatality ones. To reduce such crashes on all public roads, the safety management processes are commonly implemented which include network screening, problem diagnosis, countermeasure identification, and project prioritization. The selection of countermeasures for potential mitigation of crashes is governed by the influential factors which impact roadway crashes. Crash prediction model is the tool widely adopted by safety practitioners or researchers to link various influential factors to crash occurrences. Many different approaches have been used in the past studies to develop better fitting models which also exhibit prediction accuracy. In this study, a crash prediction model is developed to investigate the vehicular crashes occurring at roadway segments. The spatial and temporal nature of crash data is exploited to form a spatiotemporal model which accounts for the different types of heterogeneities among crash data and geometric or traffic flow variables. This study utilizes the Poisson lognormal model with random effects, which can accommodate the yearly variations in explanatory variables and the spatial correlations among segments. The dependency of different factors linked with roadway geometric, traffic flow, and road surface type on vehicular crashes occurring at segments was established as the width of lanes, posted speed limit, nature of pavement, and AADT were found to be correlated with vehicle crashes.

  1. INVESTIGATION OF ROADWAY GEOMETRIC AND TRAFFIC FLOW FACTORS FOR VEHICLE CRASHES USING SPATIOTEMPORAL INTERACTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Gill

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Traffic safety is a major concern in the transportation industry due to immense monetary and emotional burden caused by crashes of various severity levels, especially the injury and fatality ones. To reduce such crashes on all public roads, the safety management processes are commonly implemented which include network screening, problem diagnosis, countermeasure identification, and project prioritization. The selection of countermeasures for potential mitigation of crashes is governed by the influential factors which impact roadway crashes. Crash prediction model is the tool widely adopted by safety practitioners or researchers to link various influential factors to crash occurrences. Many different approaches have been used in the past studies to develop better fitting models which also exhibit prediction accuracy. In this study, a crash prediction model is developed to investigate the vehicular crashes occurring at roadway segments. The spatial and temporal nature of crash data is exploited to form a spatiotemporal model which accounts for the different types of heterogeneities among crash data and geometric or traffic flow variables. This study utilizes the Poisson lognormal model with random effects, which can accommodate the yearly variations in explanatory variables and the spatial correlations among segments. The dependency of different factors linked with roadway geometric, traffic flow, and road surface type on vehicular crashes occurring at segments was established as the width of lanes, posted speed limit, nature of pavement, and AADT were found to be correlated with vehicle crashes.

  2. (GIS-T) application for traffic congestion analyses in the De

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    generation known as the 'traditional stopwatch and traffic congestion registration ... transportation safety analysis, travel demand analysis, traffic monitoring and .... many transportation agencies use distance measuring instruments (DMIs) in their probe vehicles. ..... Spatial Implications of the Tuberculosis DOTS Strategy in.

  3. Traffic speed management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subotić Jovana Lj.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Speed, and vehicles themselves, affect the level of service and road safety, quality of life, noise from traffic, the environment, health, air pollution, emission of carbon dioxide, global warming, the economy and consumption of non-renewable energy such as oil. Therefore, the speed management of the traffic of multiple significance and that should be primarily to provide effective and economical conditions of the modern and preventive protection of human life as the greatest treasure and then the material resources. The way to accomplish this is by using various (different measures such as: appropriate planning and projecting roads and streets, speed control, the legislation, enforcement, campaigns, education, advanced technologies (ITS.

  4. Factors Impacting Mortality in the Pre-Hospital Period After Road Traffic Accidents in Urban India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandrasekharan, Ananthnarayan; Nanavati, Aditya J; Prabhakar, Sandhya; Prabhakar, Subramaniam

    2016-07-01

    India currently has the dubious distinction of experiencing the highest number of road traffic accidents in the world. We believe that this study on road traffic accidents may help to identify factors in the pre-hospital setting that may influence mortality rates. A prospective observational study was carried out in a metro area in India over a period of one year. The study included consecutive patients admitted to the trauma service after road traffic accidents. Demographic information, time and place of accident, and details regarding the vehicle and the events leading up to the hospital admission were recorded. Injury severity, management in the hospital, and final outcomes in terms of mortality were noted. The data were analyzed with SPSS software. A total of 773 patients were enrolled. Of these, there were 197 deaths and 576 survivors. The majority of patients were aged 15 - 40 years (67%) and were male (87.84%). More accidents occurred at night (58.2%) than during the day (41.8%). Mortality was not significantly associated with age, sex, or time of accident. City roads (38.9%) saw more accidents than highways (26.13%), but highway accidents were more likely to be fatal. Two-wheeler riders (37.65%) and pedestrians (35.75%) formed the majority of our study population. Mortality was significantly associated with crossing the road on foot (P = 0.004). Pillion riders on two-wheeler vehicles were more likely to experience poor outcomes (relative risk [RR] = 1.9, P = 0.001). Front-seat occupants in four-wheeler vehicles were at an increased risk of not surviving the accident (61.98%; RR=2.56, P = 0.01). Lack of safety gear, such as helmets, seat belts, and airbags, was significantly associated with mortality (P = 0.05). Delays in transfers of patients to the hospital and a lack of pre-hospital emergency services was significantly associated with increased mortality (P = 0.000). A lack of respect for the law, weak legislation and law enforcement, disregard for

  5. Guidelines for deploying connected vehicle-enabled weather responsive traffic management strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-11-01

    State and local Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are interested in providing effective traffic management and operations strategies to mitigate the roadway mobility and safety problems due to adverse weather. Weather Responsive Traffic Management...

  6. First-passage probability of the deflection of a cable-stayed bridge under long-term site-specific traffic loading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naiwei Lu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Long-span bridges suffer from higher traffic loads and the simultaneous presence of multiple vehicles, which in conjunction with the steady traffic growth may pose a threat to the bridge safety. This study presents a methodology for first-passage probability evaluation of long-span bridges subject to stochastic heavy traffic loading. Initially, the stochastic heavy traffic loading was simulated based on long-term weigh-in-motion measurements of a highway bridge in China. A computational framework was presented integrating Rice’s level-crossing theory and the first-passage criterion. The effectiveness of the computational framework was demonstrated through a case study of a cable-stayed bridge. Numerical results show that the upper tail fitting of the up-crossing rate is an appropriate description of probability characteristics of the extreme traffic load effects of long-span bridges. The average daily truck traffic growth increases the probability of exceedance due to an intensive heavy traffic flow and results in a higher first-passage probability, but this increased trend is weakening as the continuous increase of the traffic volume. Since the sustained growth of gross vehicle weight has a constant impact on the probability of failure, setting a reasonable threshold overload ratio is an effective scheme as a traffic management to ensure the bridge serviceability.

  7. Ultrasonic Sensors in Urban Traffic Driving-Aid Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teresa de Pedro

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, vehicles are often equipped with active safety systems to reduce the risk of accidents, most of which occur in urban environments. The most prominent include Antilock Braking Systems (ABS, Traction Control and Stability Control. All these systems use different kinds of sensors to constantly monitor the conditions of the vehicle, and act in an emergency. In this paper the use of ultrasonic sensors in active safety systems for urban traffic is proposed, and the advantages and disadvantages when compared to other sensors are discussed. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC for urban traffic based on ultrasounds is presented as an application example. The proposed system has been implemented in a fully-automated prototype vehicle and has been tested under real traffic conditions. The results confirm the good performance of ultrasonic sensors in these systems.

  8. Impact of air traffic on the climate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stief, G. [Florence Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Agrometeorologia

    1997-12-31

    Though emission from world-wide air traffic may seem to be relatively small in comparison to that from all other anthropogenic sources, the deleterious effect on the climate of the gases and particles emitted by planes is disproportionately large. It is thought that air traffic, working together with pollutants that have already accumulated at critical heights, and depending on humidity and temperature, plays a decisive role in helping to cause the changes, presented below, in global radiation, sunshine duration, rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures which are taking place. (author) 7 refs.

  9. Impact of air traffic on the climate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stief, G [Florence Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Agrometeorologia

    1998-12-31

    Though emission from world-wide air traffic may seem to be relatively small in comparison to that from all other anthropogenic sources, the deleterious effect on the climate of the gases and particles emitted by planes is disproportionately large. It is thought that air traffic, working together with pollutants that have already accumulated at critical heights, and depending on humidity and temperature, plays a decisive role in helping to cause the changes, presented below, in global radiation, sunshine duration, rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures which are taking place. (author) 7 refs.

  10. A hierarchical framework for air traffic control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Kaushik

    Air travel in recent years has been plagued by record delays, with over $8 billion in direct operating costs being attributed to 100 million flight delay minutes in 2007. Major contributing factors to delay include weather, congestion, and aging infrastructure; the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) aims to alleviate these delays through an upgrade of the air traffic control system. Changes to large-scale networked systems such as air traffic control are complicated by the need for coordinated solutions over disparate temporal and spatial scales. Individual air traffic controllers must ensure aircraft maintain safe separation locally with a time horizon of seconds to minutes, whereas regional plans are formulated to efficiently route flows of aircraft around weather and congestion on the order of every hour. More efficient control algorithms that provide a coordinated solution are required to safely handle a larger number of aircraft in a fixed amount of airspace. Improved estimation algorithms are also needed to provide accurate aircraft state information and situational awareness for human controllers. A hierarchical framework is developed to simultaneously solve the sometimes conflicting goals of regional efficiency and local safety. Careful attention is given in defining the interactions between the layers of this hierarchy. In this way, solutions to individual air traffic problems can be targeted and implemented as needed. First, the regional traffic flow management problem is posed as an optimization problem and shown to be NP-Hard. Approximation methods based on aggregate flow models are developed to enable real-time implementation of algorithms that reduce the impact of congestion and adverse weather. Second, the local trajectory design problem is solved using a novel slot-based sector model. This model is used to analyze sector capacity under varying traffic patterns, providing a more comprehensive understanding of how increased automation

  11. Traffic forecasts ignoring induced demand

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Næss, Petter; Nicolaisen, Morten Skou; Strand, Arvid

    2012-01-01

    the model calculations included only a part of the induced traffic, the difference in cost-benefit results compared to the model excluding all induced traffic was substantial. The results show lower travel time savings, more adverse environmental impacts and a considerably lower benefitcost ratio when...... induced traffic is partly accounted for than when it is ignored. By exaggerating the economic benefits of road capacity increase and underestimating its negative effects, omission of induced traffic can result in over-allocation of public money on road construction and correspondingly less focus on other...... performance of a proposed road project in Copenhagen with and without short-term induced traffic included in the transport model. The available transport model was not able to include long-term induced traffic resulting from changes in land use and in the level of service of public transport. Even though...

  12. Community Road Safety Initiatives for the Minerals Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tim Horberry

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Major companies in the minerals industry are increasingly recognizing that their operations have an impact in the wider community. Regarding transportation issues, this impact extends beyond purely the safety of company vehicle fleets to consideration of Community Road Safety (CRS concerns, which address the driving, walking, and riding practices of community members in a locale with increased heavy vehicle traffic. Our assessment here of national and international trends in approaches to road safety awareness and associated road safety strategies is meant to inform companies in the minerals industry of developments that can influence the design of their road safety initiatives. The review begins by considering the overall road safety context and the dominant “safe systems” framework employed internationally. Thereafter, it considers what is typically included in CRS initiatives for the minerals industry. Three case studies are then presented to highlight approaches that feature exemplary collaboration, design, implementation, or impact. Thereafter, we analyze lessons learnt by key researchers and practitioners in the CRS field. Finally, we conclude that best CRS practices for the minerals industry rely on eleven factors, including for example collaboration with local entities and stepwise implementation.

  13. Fuel Fracture (Crumbling) Safety Impact (OCRWM)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DUNCAN, D.R.

    1999-01-01

    The safety impact of experimentally observed N Reactor fuel sample fracture and fragmentation is evaluated using an average reaction rate enhancement derived from data from thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) experiments on fuel samples. The enhanced reaction rates attributed to fragmentation were within the existing safety basis

  14. The impacts of road traffic management on urban air quality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oduyemi, K.O.K. [School of Construction and Environment, University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee (United Kingdom); Davidson, B. [Department of Environmental Health and Consumer Protection, Dundee City Council, Tayside House, Crichton Street, Dundee (United Kingdom)

    1998-07-11

    The effects of road traffic emissions on urban air quality are investigated, using long-term nitrogen dioxide (NO{sub 2}) data. The effectiveness of the several traffic management measures that have been made in Dundee city centre, UK, within the last 5 years in relation to urban air quality is discussed. The information assessed during this study indicates that the annual mean NO{sub 2} levels at all the study sites are, at present, below the current EC and WHO (long-term) air quality standards for NO{sub 2} concentration in the ambient air. Traffic restrictions appear to be effective in protecting urban air quality. The annual mean NO{sub 2} concentration at two of the study sites is currently close to 40 {mu}g/m{sup 3}, a value published in the Air Quality Regulations 1997 for the air quality objective to be achieved by the year 2005. Proactive traffic management mitigation measures are proposed for these sites and a methodology for the consideration of traffic management alternatives, based upon traffic flow modal split, is described. Some measures proposed are based upon a survey of vehicle occupancy rates, carried out at the busiest of the four study sites. The methodology and assessment procedures presented should be invaluable to assessors of traffic management and local air quality management in a small city, both at the planning and at the auditing stage

  15. Impact on air quality of measures to reduce CO2 emissions from road traffic in Basel, Rotterdam, Xi'an and Suzhou

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keuken, M.P.; Jonkers, S.; Verhagen, H.L.M.; Perez, L.; Truëb, S.; Okkerse, W.J.; Liu, J.; Pan, X.C.; Zheng, L.; Wang, H.; Xu, R.; Sabel, C.E.

    2014-01-01

    Two traffic scenarios to reduce CO2 emissions from road traffic in two European cities (Basel and Rotterdam) and two Chinese cities (Xi'an and Suzhou) were evaluated in terms of their impact on air quality. The two scenarios, one modelling a reduction of private vehicle kilometres driven by 10% on

  16. A Framework for Function Allocation in Intelligent Driver Interface Design for Comfort and Safety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wuhong Wang

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a conceptual framework for ecological function allocation and optimization matching solution for a human-machine interface with intelligent characteristics by lwho does what and when and howr consideration. As a highlighted example in nature-social system, intelligent transportation system has been playing increasingly role in keeping traffic safety, our research is concerned with identifying human factors problem of In-vehicle Support Systems (ISSs and revealing the consequence of the effects of ISSs on driver cognitive interface. The primary objective is to explore some new ergonomics principals that will be able to use to design an intelligent driver interface for comfort and safety, which will address the impact of driver interfaces layouts, traffic information types, and driving behavioral factors on the advanced vehicles safety design.

  17. Evaluating the effectiveness of active vehicle safety systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Eunbi; Oh, Cheol

    2017-03-01

    Advanced vehicle safety systems have been widely introduced in transportation systems and are expected to enhance traffic safety. However, these technologies mainly focus on assisting individual vehicles that are equipped with them, and less effort has been made to identify the effect of vehicular technologies on the traffic stream. This study proposed a methodology to assess the effectiveness of active vehicle safety systems (AVSSs), which represent a promising technology to prevent traffic crashes and mitigate injury severity. The proposed AVSS consists of longitudinal and lateral vehicle control systems, which corresponds to the Level 2 vehicle automation presented by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA). The effectiveness evaluation for the proposed technology was conducted in terms of crash potential reduction and congestion mitigation. A microscopic traffic simulator, VISSIM, was used to simulate freeway traffic stream and collect vehicle-maneuvering data. In addition, an external application program interface, VISSIM's COM-interface, was used to implement the AVSS. A surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM) was used to derive indirect safety measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the AVSS. A 16.7-km freeway stretch between the Nakdong and Seonsan interchanges on Korean freeway 45 was selected for the simulation experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of AVSS. A total of five simulation runs for each evaluation scenario were conducted. For the non-incident conditions, the rear-end and lane-change conflicts were reduced by 78.8% and 17.3%, respectively, under the level of service (LOS) D traffic conditions. In addition, the average delay was reduced by 55.5%. However, the system's effectiveness was weakened in the LOS A-C categories. Under incident traffic conditions, the number of rear-end conflicts was reduced by approximately 9.7%. Vehicle delays were reduced by approximately 43.9% with 100% of market penetration rate (MPR). These results

  18. Modeling the weather impact on aviation in a global air traffic model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Himmelsbach, S.; Hauf, T.; Rokitansky, C. H.

    2009-09-01

    Weather has a strong impact on aviation safety and efficiency. For a better understanding of that impact, especially of thunderstorms and similar other severe hazards, we pursued a modeling approach. We used the detailed simulation software (NAVSIM) of worldwide air traffic, developed by Rokitansky [Eurocontrol, 2005] and implemented a specific weather module. NAVSIM models each aircraft with its specific performance characteristics separately along preplanned and prescribed routes. The specific weather module in its current version simulates a thunderstorm as an impenetrable 3D object, which forces an aircraft to circumvent the latter. We refer to that object in general terms as a weather object. The Cb-weather object, as a specific weather object, is a heuristic model of a real thunderstorm, with its characteristics based on actually observed satellite and precipitation radar data. It is comprised of an upper volume, mostly the anvil, and a bottom volume, the up- and downdrafts and the lower outflow area [Tafferner and Forster, 2009; Kober and Tafferner 2009; Zinner et al, 2008]. The Cb-weather object is already implemented in NAVSIM, other weather objects like icing and turbulence will follow. This combination of NAVSIM with a weather object allows a detailed investigation of situations where conflicts exist between planned flight routes and adverse weather. The first objective is to simulate the observed circum-navigation in NAVSIM. Real occurring routes will be compared with simulated ones. Once this has successfully completed, NAVSIM offers a platform to assess existing rules and develop more efficient strategies to cope with adverse weather. An overview will be given over the implementation status of weather objects within NAVSIM and first results will be presented. Cb-object data provision by A. Tafferner, C. Forster, T. Zinner, K. Kober, M. Hagen (DLR Oberpfaffenhofen) is greatly acknowledged. References: Eurocontrol, VDL Mode 2 Capacity Analysis through

  19. Acoustic characteristics of hybrid electric vehicles and the safety of pedestrians who are blind

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-01

    Quieter cars such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) may reduce auditory cues used by pedestrians to assess the state of nearby traffic and, as a result, their use may have an adverse impact on pedestrian safety. In order ...

  20. The effect on collisions with injuries of a reduction in traffic citations issued by police officers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blais, Etienne; Gagné, Marie-Pier

    2010-12-01

    To assess the effect on collisions with injuries of a 61% reduction in the number of traffic citations issued by police officers over a 21-month period. Using descriptive analyses as well as ARIMA intervention time-series analyses, this study estimated the impact of this reduction in citations issued for traffic violations on the monthly number of collisions with injuries. Simple descriptive analysis reveals that the 61% reduction in the number of citations issued for traffic violations during the experimental period coincided with an increase in collisions with injuries. Results from the interrupted time-series analyses reveal that, on average, eight additional collisions with injuries occurred every month during which the number of tickets issued for traffic violations was lower than normal. As this pressure tactic was applied for 21 months, it is estimated that this situation was associated with approximately 184 additional collisions with injuries: equivalent to 239 traffic injuries (either deaths, minor or serious injuries). In the province of Quebec, police officers are an important component of road safety policy. Issuing citations prevents drivers from adopting reckless driving habits such as speeding, running red lights and failing to fasten their seat belt.

  1. Change to CERN Safety Rules: Abolition of Safety Code A7

    CERN Multimedia

    2016-01-01

    As from 3 June 2016 Safety Code A7 “Road traffic at CERN” is abolished.   CERN's current practice to follow French or Swiss road traffic regulations on the corresponding parts of the CERN site will continue to apply. HSE Unit

  2. AHP-based spatial analysis of water quality impact assessment due to change in vehicular traffic caused by highway broadening in Sikkim Himalaya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banerjee, Polash; Ghose, Mrinal Kanti; Pradhan, Ratika

    2018-05-01

    Spatial analysis of water quality impact assessment of highway projects in mountainous areas remains largely unexplored. A methodology is presented here for Spatial Water Quality Impact Assessment (SWQIA) due to highway-broadening-induced vehicular traffic change in the East district of Sikkim. Pollution load of the highway runoff was estimated using an Average Annual Daily Traffic-Based Empirical model in combination with mass balance model to predict pollution in the rivers within the study area. Spatial interpolation and overlay analysis were used for impact mapping. Analytic Hierarchy Process-Based Water Quality Status Index was used to prepare a composite impact map. Model validation criteria, cross-validation criteria, and spatial explicit sensitivity analysis show that the SWQIA model is robust. The study shows that vehicular traffic is a significant contributor to water pollution in the study area. The model is catering specifically to impact analysis of the concerned project. It can be an aid for decision support system for the project stakeholders. The applicability of SWQIA model needs to be explored and validated in the context of a larger set of water quality parameters and project scenarios at a greater spatial scale.

  3. Navigation Tools and Equipment and How They Have Improved Aviation Safety

    OpenAIRE

    Sulaiman D. S Alsahli FadalahassanALfadala

    2017-01-01

    This paper highlights the impact of navigation tools and equipment, such as the GPS, navigation radar, and other communications tools, which aid in ensuring aviation safety. It emphasizes the need for aviation safety and how these navigation methods are of great help to reduce the hazards and clearly indicate the problems related to the aircraft, aircraft traffic management, weather disturbances, among others. It also recommends how these tools and equipment must be further developed to promo...

  4. Impacts of Bus-stops on the Speed of Motorized Vehicles under Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions: A Case-Study of Delhi, India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prateek Bansal

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The presence of friction generators1 such as bus-stops, intersections, petrol pumps and pedestrian crossings, etc. significantly influences the speed of traffic stream. Among all the friction generators, understanding the impact of bus-stops is particularly important from planning and modeling perspective in the Indian context. Therefore, this study presents a methodology to quantify the impact of bus-stops on the speed of other motorized vehicles (the total motorized vehicle fleet minus the buses under heterogeneous traffic conditions. The methodology was validated on the typical urban arterials in Delhi, India. Two types of data, location of bus-stops and speed profiles of motorized vehicles, were collected by GPS and V-box respectively. These two data sets were mapped and merged using ArcGIS. To understand the nature of traffic stream near bus-stops, ‘influence regions’ of bus-stops were extracted. Later, characteristic parameters such as lengths of the influence regions and average speeds in the influence regions were computed. Finally, 95% confidence intervals of these characteristic parameters were obtained and regression analysis was performed to quantify the impact of bus-stops on the speed of motorized vehicles. The results of study suggest that the influence region of bus-stops on the corridors investigated varies from 140–170 meters and average speed of motorized vehicles in the influence region is reduced by 26–38% of the free flow speed. These findings can better inform planners about the speeds used in traffic flow and travel demand modeling under heterogeneous conditions by helping them in accounting for the speed-reducing impacts of bus-stops. Moreover, transit planners may also consider the magnitudes and characteristics of the influence regions of bus-stops while determining their locations along the corridor to minimize their adverse impacts on the speed of other motorized vehicles.

  5. A proposed methodology for impact assessment of air quality traffic-related measures: The case of PM2.5 in Beijing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontes, Tânia; Li, Peilin; Barros, Nelson; Zhao, Pengjun

    2018-08-01

    Air quality traffic-related measures have been implemented worldwide to control the pollution levels of urban areas. Although some of those measures are claiming environmental improvements, few studies have checked their real impact. In fact, quantitative estimates are often focused on reducing emissions, rather than on evaluating the actual measures' effect on air quality. Even when air quality studies are conducted, results are frequently unclear. In order to properly assess the real impact on air quality of traffic-related measures, a statistical method is proposed. The method compares the pollutant concentration levels observed after the implementation of a measure with the concentration values of the previous year. Short- and long-term impact is assessed considering not only their influence on the average pollutant concentration, but also on its maximum level. To control the effect of the main confounding factors, only the days with similar environmental conditions are analysed. The changeability of the key meteorological variables that affect the transport and dispersion of the pollutant studied are used to identify and group the days categorized as similar. Resemblance of the pollutants' concentration of the previous day is also taken into account. The impact of the road traffic measures on the air pollutants' concentration is then checked for those similar days using specific statistical functions. To evaluate the proposed method, the impact on PM 2.5 concentrations of two air quality traffic-related measures (M1 and M2) implemented in the city of Beijing are taken into consideration: M1 was implemented in 2009, restricting the circulation of yellow-labelled vehicles, while M2 was implemented in 2014, restricting the circulation of heavy-duty vehicles. To compare the results of each measure, a time-period when these measures were not applied is used as case-control. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Traffic calming for the prevention of road traffic injuries: systematic review and meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunn, F; Collier, T; Frost, C; Ker, K; Roberts, I; Wentz, R

    2003-09-01

    To assess whether area-wide traffic calming schemes can reduce road crash related deaths and injuries. Systematic review and meta-analysis. Cochrane Injuries Group Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, EMBASE, Sociological Abstracts Science (and social science) citation index, National Technical Information service, Psychlit, Transport Research Information Service, International Road Research Documentation, and Transdoc, and web sites of road safety organisation were searched; experts were contacted, conference proceedings were handsearched, and relevant reference lists were checked. Randomised controlled trials, and controlled before/after studies of area-wide traffic calming schemes designed to discourage and slow down through traffic on residential roads. Data were collected on road user deaths, injuries, and traffic crashes. For each study rate ratios were calculated, the ratio of event rates before and after intervention in the traffic calmed area divided by the corresponding ratio of event rates in the control area, which were pooled to give an overall estimate using a random effects model. Sixteen controlled before/after studies met our inclusion criteria. Eight studies reported the number of road user deaths: pooled rate ratio 0.63 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.14 to 2.59). Sixteen studies reported the number of injuries (fatal and non-fatal): pooled rate ratio 0.89 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.00). All studies were in high income countries. Area-wide traffic calming in towns and cities has the potential to reduce road traffic injuries. However, further rigorous evaluations of this intervention are needed, especially in low and middle income countries.

  7. Review on Driverless Traffic from Management Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Tingting

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The move towards automated driving is gaining ground. This paper reviews the development process of self-driving technology and discusses the safety and efficiency advantages of autonomous vehicles. The discussion shows that the existing traffic management system, including transport infrastructures and regulations, should be changed accordingly to maximize the advantages of autonomous driving. Thus, this paper subsequently gives an insight of the traffic management from three aspects: fully self-driving traffic infrastructures, mixed traffic infrastructures and regulations. First, it is summarized in detail what should be adjusted in intersections, parking lots, pedestrian crossings, ramps, signs and markings. With the transformation of traffic infrastructures, the advantages of driverless car will be more pronounced on account of increased capacity, reduced delay and land use. Also, this paper indicates that the implementations of strict product liability for self-driving car manufacturers and no-fault tort liability for users are applicable to automated vehicle accidents.

  8. Can cyclist safety be improved with intelligent transport systems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silla, Anne; Leden, Lars; Rämä, Pirkko; Scholliers, Johan; Van Noort, Martijn; Bell, Daniel

    2017-08-01

    In recent years, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have assisted in the decrease of road traffic fatalities, particularly amongst passenger car occupants. Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders and motorcyclists, however, have not been that much in focus when developing ITS. Therefore, there is a clear need for ITS which specifically address VRUs as an integrated element of the traffic system. This paper presents the results of a quantitative safety impact assessment of five systems that were estimated to have high potential to improve the safety of cyclists, namely: Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Bicycle to Vehicle communication (B2V), Intersection safety (INS), Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection System+Emergency Braking (PCDS+EBR) and VRU Beacon System (VBS). An ex-ante assessment method proposed by Kulmala (2010) targeted to assess the effects of ITS for cars was applied and further developed in this study to assess the safety impacts of ITS specifically designed for VRUs. The main results of the assessment showed that all investigated systems affect cyclist safety in a positive way by preventing fatalities and injuries. The estimates considering 2012 accident data and full penetration showed that the highest effects could be obtained by the implementation of PCDS+EBR and B2V, whereas VBS had the lowest effect. The estimated yearly reduction in cyclist fatalities in the EU-28 varied between 77 and 286 per system. A forecast for 2030, taking into accounts the estimated accident trends and penetration rates, showed the highest effects for PCDS+EBR and BSD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Stochastic control of traffic patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gaididei, Yuri B.; Gorria, Carlos; Berkemer, Rainer

    2013-01-01

    A stochastic modulation of the safety distance can reduce traffic jams. It is found that the effect of random modulation on congestive flow formation depends on the spatial correlation of the noise. Jam creation is suppressed for highly correlated noise. The results demonstrate the advantage of h...

  10. Traffic Accidents Involving Cyclists Identifying Causal Factors Using Questionnaire Survey, Traffic Accident Data, and Real-World Observation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oikawa, Shoko; Hirose, Toshiya; Aomura, Shigeru; Matsui, Yasuhiro

    2016-11-01

    The purpose of this study is to clarify the mechanism of traffic accidents involving cyclists. The focus is on the characteristics of cyclist accidents and scenarios, because the number of traffic accidents involving cyclists in Tokyo is the highest in Japan. First, dangerous situations in traffic incidents were investigated by collecting data from 304 cyclists in one city in Tokyo using a questionnaire survey. The survey indicated that cyclists used their bicycles generally while commuting to work or school in the morning. Second, the study investigated the characteristics of 250 accident situations involving cyclists that happened in the city using real-world bicycle accident data. The results revealed that the traffic accidents occurred at intersections of local streets, where cyclists collided most often with vehicles during commute time in the morning. Third, cyclists' behavior was observed at a local street intersection in the morning in the city using video pictures. In one hour during the morning commute period, 250 bicycles passed through the intersection. The results indicated that one of the reasons for traffic accidents involving cyclists might be the combined effect of low visibility, caused by the presence of box-like building structures close to the intersections, and the cyclists' behavior in terms of their velocity and no confirming safety. It was observed that, on average, bicycle velocity was 3.1 m/s at the initial line of an intersection. The findings from this study could be useful in developing new technologies to improve cyclist safety, such as alert devices for cyclists and vehicle drivers, wireless communication systems between cyclists and vehicle drivers, or advanced vehicles with bicycle detection and collision mitigation systems.

  11. Effects of traffic infrastructure and road design on safe driving

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horst, A.R.A. van der

    2014-01-01

    One of the building blocks of the Dutch success in road safety is the Sustainable Safety approach. This philosophy specifies that road safety should be a design requirement in road traffic with a focus on the use of human characteristics as a starting point, considering both humans’ physical

  12. An Integrated GPS/PDA/GIS Telegeoprocessing System for Traffic and Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Luísa Ramos

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The development of sustainable urban transport networks is a present priority for world leaders, national governors and local authorities. The challenge is to increase mobility reducing the adverse impacts of transport. The potential of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS to provide solutions for the 21 st century sustainable urban transport system has already been demonstrated in several piecewise applications. An integrated framework that addresses the needs of municipal authorities, that integrates the data spread through different sources, that supports the intelligent traffic and environment operations, and that provides information to the citizens steering their involvement and commitment is of critical importance and can be the enabler towards the creation of more efficient, safety, and environmental-friendly transport networks that promote the citizens' quality of life. This work describes an integrated GPS (Global Positioning System / PDA (Personal Digital Assistant / GIS (Geographical Information System system which is part of the mentioned framework. The system includes prototypes for mobile urban traffic data acquisition, with a GPS -equipped vehicle, a PDA application and wireless communications, and for a geodatabase with a related Web application for urban traffic and environment. Their integrated operation is exemplified for a real urban transport system.

  13. Efficient Conversation: The Talk between Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, James L.

    Two-way radio communications between air traffic controllers using radar on the ground to give airplane pilots instructions are of interest within the developing framework of the sociology of language. The main purpose of air traffic control language is efficient communication to promote flight safety. This study describes the standardized format…

  14. Aliphatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Gulf of Trieste sediments (northern Adriatic): potential impacts of maritime traffic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajt, Oliver

    2014-09-01

    The Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic) is one of the most urbanized and industrialized areas in the northern Adriatic, with intense maritime traffic experienced at multiple ports. The impact of maritime traffic on contamination by hydrocarbons in this area was assessed. Concentrations of hydrocarbons were higher near the expected contamination sources and still elevated in the adjacent offshore areas. Aliphatic hydrocarbons were mainly of petrogenic origin, with some contribution of biogenic origin. A continuous contamination by aliphatic hydrocarbons and degradation processes were hypothesized. Concentrations of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were generally greater near the contamination sources. Compared to the prevailing pyrolytic origin, the petrogenic PAH origin seemed to be less important, but not negligible. Results revealed that intensive maritime traffic is a probable source of contamination by hydrocarbons in the investigated area, which is largely limited to areas near the contamination sources.

  15. Safety and environmental impacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiege, A.; Kramer, W.

    1991-01-01

    By means of interpreting experimental results, and by means of conservative estimates, several fundamental statements can be made concerning the safety and environmental impacts of fusion plants. Relevant findings so far regarding normal operation and incidents as well as risks involved in raw material extraction and waste management are compiled. (DG) [de

  16. Air Traffic Management Cost Assessment Tool, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Robust Analytics Air Traffic Management Cost Assessment Tool (ACAT) provides the comprehensive capability to analyze the impacts of NASA air traffic management...

  17. Performance Measurement of Location Enabled e-Government Processes: A Use Case on Traffic Safety Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandenbroucke, D.; Vancauwenberghe, G.

    2016-12-01

    The European Union Location Framework (EULF), as part of the Interoperable Solutions for European Public Administrations (ISA) Programme of the EU (EC DG DIGIT), aims to enhance the interactions between governments, businesses and citizens by embedding location information into e-Government processes. The challenge remains to find scientific sound and at the same time practicable approaches to estimate or measure the impact of location enablement of e-Government processes on the performance of the processes. A method has been defined to estimate process performance in terms of variables describing the efficiency, effectiveness, as well as the quality of the output of the work processes. A series of use cases have been identified, corresponding to existing e-Government work processes in which location information could bring added value. In a first step, the processes are described by means of BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) to better understand the process steps, the actors involved, the spatial data flows, as well as the required input and the generated output. In a second step the processes are assessed in terms of the (sub-optimal) use of location information and the potential enhancement of the process by better integrating location information and services. The process performance is measured ex ante (before using location enabled e-Government services) and ex-post (after the integration of such services) in order to estimate and measure the impact of location information. The paper describes the method for performance measurement and highlights how the method is applied to one use case, i.e. the process of traffic safety monitoring. The use case is analysed and assessed in terms of location enablement and its potential impact on process performance. The results of applying the methodology on the use case revealed that performance is highly impacted by factors such as the way location information is collected, managed and shared throughout the

  18. The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuzhong Shen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate. However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX, and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job.

  19. The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Yuzhong; Ju, Chuanjing; Koh, Tas Yong; Rowlinson, Steve; Bridge, Adrian J

    2017-01-05

    Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation) and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate). However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader-member exchange (LMX), and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job.

  20. The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Yuzhong; Ju, Chuanjing; Koh, Tas Yong; Rowlinson, Steve; Bridge, Adrian J.

    2017-01-01

    Unsafe acts contribute dominantly to construction accidents, and increasing safety behavior is essential to reduce accidents. Previous research conceptualized safety behavior as an interaction between proximal individual differences (safety knowledge and safety motivation) and distal contextual factors (leadership and safety climate). However, relatively little empirical research has examined this conceptualization in the construction sector. Given the cultural background of the sample, this study makes a slight modification to the conceptualization and views transformational leadership as an antecedent of safety climate. Accordingly, this study establishes a multiple mediator model showing the mechanisms through which transformational leadership translates into safety behavior. The multiple mediator model is estimated by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction personnel based in Hong Kong. As hypothesized, transformational leadership has a significant impact on safety climate which is mediated by safety-specific leader–member exchange (LMX), and safety climate in turn impacts safety behavior through safety knowledge. The results suggest that future safety climate interventions should be more effective if supervisors exhibit transformational leadership, encourage construction personnel to voice safety concerns without fear of retaliation, and repeatedly remind them about safety on the job. PMID:28067775

  1. Environment Quality: Impact From Traffic, Power Plant and Land Morphology, a Case Study of Prishtina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bajcinovci Bujar

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Environmental air pollution is a global health concern, a complex phenomenon which is directly reflected on public health, economic and human development. Environmental air pollution has been drastically multiplied, followed by the beginning of the new Millennia in Prishtina, the capital city of the Kosovo. The new millennium began as a crucial activity for the city of Prishtina in terms of demographic, human geography, social and economic phenomena. The presented study aims to determine prevalent traffic and land morphology composition attributes, which have influenced and continue to have environmental impact in the city of Prishtina. According to the conceptual findings from the empirical observations, the heavy city traffic and the land morphology structure, determine the urban air pollution level. Prishtina is generally polluted due to its geomorphic position in relation to the power plants Kosovo A, and Kosova B. The impact of the above cited factors, is even bigger when the dominant winds prevail through valley, which encompasses the city. The findings from this paper propose the necessity of careful driven urban solutions.

  2. Environment Quality: Impact From Traffic, Power Plant and Land Morphology, a Case Study of Prishtina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajcinovci, Bujar

    2017-05-01

    Environmental air pollution is a global health concern, a complex phenomenon which is directly reflected on public health, economic and human development. Environmental air pollution has been drastically multiplied, followed by the beginning of the new Millennia in Prishtina, the capital city of the Kosovo. The new millennium began as a crucial activity for the city of Prishtina in terms of demographic, human geography, social and economic phenomena. The presented study aims to determine prevalent traffic and land morphology composition attributes, which have influenced and continue to have environmental impact in the city of Prishtina. According to the conceptual findings from the empirical observations, the heavy city traffic and the land morphology structure, determine the urban air pollution level. Prishtina is generally polluted due to its geomorphic position in relation to the power plants Kosovo A, and Kosova B. The impact of the above cited factors, is even bigger when the dominant winds prevail through valley, which encompasses the city. The findings from this paper propose the necessity of careful driven urban solutions.

  3. Guaranteed safety information for rising traffic safety at roads main junctions using infrastructure-aided driver-assistance systems; Sichere Information durch infrastrukturgestuetzte Fahrerassistenzsysteme zur Steigerung der Verkehrssicherheit an Strassenknotenpunkten

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wiltschko, T.

    2004-07-01

    Progress of development of driver assistance systems have more and more lead to systems assisting the driver on guidance level. These systems allow direct or indirect driving process contact thus being safety relevant vehicle systems, and their operation requires high safety and reliability standards. To realize the necessary driver assistance, complete collection and interpretation of traffic actions are required and a number of information and information sources has to be integrated, especially in case of traffic situations at junctions in urban areas. The requirements, however, cannot only be reduced to technical reliability of the system and system components but have also to be extended to the information in- and output thus guaranteeing safe operation. This information has to reach the required quality thus avoiding any hazards during the complete time of information use. It is evident that none of the existing models and methods allow a uniform description of information quality of driver assistance systems. The thesis shows a quality concept for description and evaluation of information quality within information processing systems. The quality concept consists of a quality model and an analysing procedure. The quality model is the basis of the quality concept. All types of information are described by a fixed set of quality characteristic, and suitable parameters are used for concretion and quantification. (orig.)

  4. Safety of mechanical devices. Safety of automation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pahl, G.; Schweizer, G.; Kapp, K.

    1985-01-01

    The paper deals with the classic procedures of safety engineering in the sectors mechanical engineering, electrical and energy engineering, construction and transport, medicine technology and process technology. Particular stress is laid on the safety of automation systems, control technology, protection of mechanical devices, reactor safety, mechanical constructions, transport systems, railway signalling devices, road traffic and protection at work in chemical plans. (DG) [de

  5. Visualization of Traffic Accidents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jie; Shen, Yuzhong; Khattak, Asad

    2010-01-01

    Traffic accidents have tremendous impact on society. Annually approximately 6.4 million vehicle accidents are reported by police in the US and nearly half of them result in catastrophic injuries. Visualizations of traffic accidents using geographic information systems (GIS) greatly facilitate handling and analysis of traffic accidents in many aspects. Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Inc. is the world leader in GIS research and development. ArcGIS, a software package developed by ESRI, has the capabilities to display events associated with a road network, such as accident locations, and pavement quality. But when event locations related to a road network are processed, the existing algorithm used by ArcGIS does not utilize all the information related to the routes of the road network and produces erroneous visualization results of event locations. This software bug causes serious problems for applications in which accurate location information is critical for emergency responses, such as traffic accidents. This paper aims to address this problem and proposes an improved method that utilizes all relevant information of traffic accidents, namely, route number, direction, and mile post, and extracts correct event locations for accurate traffic accident visualization and analysis. The proposed method generates a new shape file for traffic accidents and displays them on top of the existing road network in ArcGIS. Visualization of traffic accidents along Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  6. Quantitative health impact assessment of transport policies: two simulations related to speed limit reduction and traffic re-allocation in the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schram-Bijkerk, D; van Kempen, E; Knol, A B; Kruize, H; Staatsen, B; van Kamp, I

    2009-10-01

    Few quantitative health impact assessments (HIAs) of transport policies have been published so far and there is a lack of a common methodology for such assessments. To evaluate the usability of existing HIA methodology to quantify health effects of transport policies at the local level. Health impact of two simulated but realistic transport interventions - speed limit reduction and traffic re-allocation - was quantified by selecting traffic-related exposures and health endpoints, modelling of population exposure, selecting exposure-effect relations and estimating the number of local traffic-related cases and disease burden, expressed in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), before and after the intervention. Exposure information was difficult to retrieve because of the local scale of the interventions, and exposure-effect relations for subgroups and combined effects were missing. Given uncertainty in the outcomes originating from this kind of missing information, simulated changes in population health by two local traffic interventions were estimated to be small (<5%), except for the estimated reduction in DALYs by less traffic accidents (60%) due to speed limit reduction. Quantitative HIA of transport policies at a local scale is possible, provided that data on exposures, the exposed population and their baseline health status are available. The interpretation of the HIA information should be carried out in the context of the quality of input data and assumptions and uncertainties of the analysis.

  7. Kinetic energy management in road traffic injury prevention: a call for action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davoud Khorasani-Zavareh

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: By virtue of their variability, mass and speed have important roles in transferring energies during a crash incidence (kinetic energy. The sum of kinetic energy is important in determining an injury severity and that is equal to one half of the vehicle mass multiplied by the square of the vehicle speed. To meet the Vision Zero policy (a traffic safety policy prevention activities should be focused on vehicle speed management. Understanding the role of kinetic energy will help to develop measures to reduce the generation, distribution, and effects of this energy during a road traffic crash. Road traffic injury preventive activities necessitate Kinetic energy management to improve road user safety.

  8. Work Environment, Stress, and Driving Anger: A Structural Equation Model for Predicting Traffic Sanctions of Public Transport Drivers

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    Public transport is an effective and sustainable alternative to private vehicle usage, also helping to reduce the environmental impact of driving. However, the work environment of public transport operators is full of adverse conditions, which, together with their high mileage, may increase the occurrence of negative safety outcomes such as traffic accidents, often preceded by risky road behaviors enhanced by stress, anger, and difficult operating conditions. The aims of this study were, first, to determine the association between work-related psychosocial factors and individual characteristics of public transport drivers and the rate of traffic sanctions they are subject to; and second, to assess the mediation of driving anger in this relationship. A sample of professional drivers (57.4% city bus, 17.6% taxi, and 25% inter-urban bus male operators) was used for this cross-sectional study, responding to a five-section survey including demographic data and driving-related factors, psychosocial work factors including job stress, driving stress, risk predisposition, and driving anger. The results of this study showed significant associations between work-related factors: measures of stress and self-reported rates of traffic fines. Second, it was found that driving anger mediates the associations between driving stress, risk predisposition, and traffic sanctions; and partially mediates the association between driving experience, hourly intensity, and job stress. This study supports the idea that traffic penalties reported by public transport rates are preceded by work-related, personality, and other individual factors that, when combined with driving anger, enhance the occurrence of road misbehavior that may affect overall road safety. PMID:29534530

  9. Work Environment, Stress, and Driving Anger: A Structural Equation Model for Predicting Traffic Sanctions of Public Transport Drivers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Montoro

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Public transport is an effective and sustainable alternative to private vehicle usage, also helping to reduce the environmental impact of driving. However, the work environment of public transport operators is full of adverse conditions, which, together with their high mileage, may increase the occurrence of negative safety outcomes such as traffic accidents, often preceded by risky road behaviors enhanced by stress, anger, and difficult operating conditions. The aims of this study were, first, to determine the association between work-related psychosocial factors and individual characteristics of public transport drivers and the rate of traffic sanctions they are subject to; and second, to assess the mediation of driving anger in this relationship. A sample of professional drivers (57.4% city bus, 17.6% taxi, and 25% inter-urban bus male operators was used for this cross-sectional study, responding to a five-section survey including demographic data and driving-related factors, psychosocial work factors including job stress, driving stress, risk predisposition, and driving anger. The results of this study showed significant associations between work-related factors: measures of stress and self-reported rates of traffic fines. Second, it was found that driving anger mediates the associations between driving stress, risk predisposition, and traffic sanctions; and partially mediates the association between driving experience, hourly intensity, and job stress. This study supports the idea that traffic penalties reported by public transport rates are preceded by work-related, personality, and other individual factors that, when combined with driving anger, enhance the occurrence of road misbehavior that may affect overall road safety.

  10. Work Environment, Stress, and Driving Anger: A Structural Equation Model for Predicting Traffic Sanctions of Public Transport Drivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montoro, Luis; Useche, Sergio; Alonso, Francisco; Cendales, Boris

    2018-03-12

    Public transport is an effective and sustainable alternative to private vehicle usage, also helping to reduce the environmental impact of driving. However, the work environment of public transport operators is full of adverse conditions, which, together with their high mileage, may increase the occurrence of negative safety outcomes such as traffic accidents, often preceded by risky road behaviors enhanced by stress, anger, and difficult operating conditions. The aims of this study were, first, to determine the association between work-related psychosocial factors and individual characteristics of public transport drivers and the rate of traffic sanctions they are subject to; and second, to assess the mediation of driving anger in this relationship. A sample of professional drivers (57.4% city bus, 17.6% taxi, and 25% inter-urban bus male operators) was used for this cross-sectional study, responding to a five-section survey including demographic data and driving-related factors, psychosocial work factors including job stress, driving stress, risk predisposition, and driving anger. The results of this study showed significant associations between work-related factors: measures of stress and self-reported rates of traffic fines. Second, it was found that driving anger mediates the associations between driving stress, risk predisposition, and traffic sanctions; and partially mediates the association between driving experience, hourly intensity, and job stress. This study supports the idea that traffic penalties reported by public transport rates are preceded by work-related, personality, and other individual factors that, when combined with driving anger, enhance the occurrence of road misbehavior that may affect overall road safety.

  11. Severity of vehicle bumper location in vehicle-to-pedestrian impact accidents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsui, Yasuhiro; Hitosugi, Masahito; Mizuno, Koji

    2011-10-10

    Pedestrian protection is one of the key topics for safety measures in traffic accidents all over the world. To analyze the relation between the collision site of the vehicle bumper and the severity of the lower extremity injuries, we performed biomechanical experiments. We compared the applied external force and the risks of subsequent injuries between the impact of the center and side positions of the front bumper. These comparisons were performed by practical impact tests with eight typical different types of cars which were typical of the current vehicle fleets. The tests were made using the TRL legform impactor which was a mechanical substitute of a pedestrian lower extremity. The TRL impactor is used all over the world for assessing the safety of car bumpers. It was found that the risks of lower extremity injuries in the impacts at the side positions, in front of the vehicle's side member, were significantly higher than those at the center. In the tests, we found that foam materials around the rigid front cross member had a significant effect on reducing the lower extremity injury risks and especially tibia fracture risk against vehicle bumper center collisions, but had little effect at the sides of the bumper over the vehicle's side members where the foam was thinner. We also found that the front shape of the vehicle affected the risk of ligaments injuries. According to these results, the information of impact locations of cars in vehicle-to-pedestrian traffic accidents is valuable for clinicians to diagnose patients with lower extremity injuries in traffic accidents and for forensic pathologists to analyze the accident reconstruction. Furthermore, the results suggest that testing of the bumper area in front of the main longitudinal beams should be included in the car safety legislation to require pedestrian safety. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Decline traffic information system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Du Plessis, K [Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Sydney (Australia)

    2007-09-06

    BHP Billion (BHPB) Cannington has experienced problems in regards to their traffic flow in the decline at the mine. The problems related to reports on near misses of vehicles moving towards each other in the decline. The decline is also to narrow for trucks to pass each other and the operators need to be aware of oncoming traffic in the decline to ensure they could take early evasive steps to ensure the rules of right of way in the decline are adhered to. BHPB Cannington requested CSC to conduct a problem analysis and to provide a solutions proposal to Cannington. The solution was put forward as an augmentation of their current safety procedures used with in the decline. During this phase of the project CSC developed a solutions architecture which involved the use of Active (Radio Frequency Identification) RFID tagging which will enable vehicle movement tracking on a real time basis after which the appropriate traffic movement can be relayed to the operators in the decline. The primary objective of the DTIS is to provide accurate information of traffic movement in the decline and present that information to the operators of the decline IN THE DECLINE upon which they would make their decisions. (orig.)

  13. Coordinated Traffic Incident and Congestion Management (TIM-CM) : Mitigating Regional Impacts of Major Traffic Incidents in the Seattle I-5 Corridor

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-02-02

    Within the Seattle metropolitan area, traffic incident management (TIM) operations provide a multi-jurisdictional and coordinated strategy to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow can be restored quickly and safely. The...

  14. [Evidence-based effectiveness of road safety interventions: a literature review].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novoa, Ana M; Pérez, Katherine; Borrell, Carme

    2009-01-01

    Only road safety interventions with scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness should be implemented. The objective of this study was to identify and summarize the available evidence on the effectiveness of road safety interventions in reducing road traffic collisions, injuries and deaths. All literature reviews published in scientific journals that assessed the effectiveness of one or more road safety interventions and whose outcome measure was road traffic crashes, injuries or fatalities were included. An exhaustive search was performed in scientific literature databases. The interventions were classified according to the evidence of their effectiveness in reducing road traffic injuries (effective interventions, insufficient evidence of effectiveness, ineffective interventions) following the structure of the Haddon matrix. Fifty-four reviews were included. Effective interventions were found before, during and after the collision, and across all factors: a) the individual: the graduated licensing system (31% road traffic injury reduction); b) the vehicle: electronic stability control system (2 to 41% reduction); c) the infrastructure: area-wide traffic calming (0 to 20%), and d) the social environment: speed cameras (7 to 30%). Certain road safety interventions are ineffective, mostly road safety education, and others require further investigation. The most successful interventions are those that reduce or eliminate the hazard and do not depend on changes in road users' behavior or on their knowledge of road safety issues. Interventions based exclusively on education are ineffective in reducing road traffic injuries.

  15. Impact of the 1994 alcohol production and sales deregulation policy on traffic crashes and fatalities in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desapriya, Ediriweera; Fujiwara, Takeo; Dutt, Namrata; Arason, Neil; Pike, Ian

    2012-09-01

    . Many studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between alcohol availability and traffic crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers. The present analysis focuses on the evaluation of the impact of alcohol availability on the Japanese population by comparing fatal and nonfatal motor vehicle crash rates before and after implementation of the alcohol deregulation policy in 1994. Participants and method. Poisson regression with robust standard error was used to model the before-to-after change in incidence rate ratios (IRRs) in the population. To control for potential confounders, per capita alcohol consumption, unemployment rate, and vehicle miles travelled (VMT) were also added to the model. The exponents of the fitted coefficients are equivalent to the IRRs. . Implementation of the policy deregulating alcohol sales and production did not appear to increase traffic fatalities and other traffic crashes in Japan. In the overall study results, nighttime fatalities were reduced statistically significantly by 6% since the implementation of the alcohol deregulation policy in 1994. Discussion. Contrary to previous research, the findings of this study demonstrated lower rates of fatalities and higher compliance with alcohol-related driving legislation. Further well-designed, nonaligned studies on alcohol availability and traffic fatalities in other countries are urgently needed.

  16. Road safety and road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mansuri, Farah A.; Al-Zalabani, Abdulmohsen H.; Zalat, Marwa M.; Qabshawi, Reem I.

    2015-01-01

    Objectives: To identify the changing trends and crucial preventive approaches to road traffic accidents (RTAs) adopted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the last 2.5 decades, and to analyze aspects previously overlooked. Methods: This systematic review was based on evidence of RTAs in KSA. All articles published during the last 25 years on road traffic accident in KSA were analyzed. This study was carried out from December 2013 to May 2014 in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, KSA. Results: Road traffic accidents accounted for 83.4% of all trauma admissions in 1984-1989, and no such overall trend was studied thereafter. The most frequently injured body regions as reported in the latest studies were head and neck, followed by upper and lower extremities, which was found to be opposite to that of the studies reported earlier. Hospital data showed an 8% non-significant increase in road accident mortalities in contrast to police records of a 27% significant reduction during the years 2005-2010. Excessive speeding was the most common cause reported in all recent and past studies. Conclusion: Disparity was common in the type of reporting of RTAs, outcome measures, and possible causes over a period of 2.5 decade. All research exclusively looked into the drivers’ faults. A sentinel surveillance of road crashes should be kept in place in the secondary and tertiary care hospitals for all regions of KSA. PMID:25828277

  17. Smart Traffic Management Protocol Based on VANET architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amilcare Francesco Santamaria

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays one of the hottest theme in wireless environments research is the application of the newest technologies to road safety problems and traffic management exploiting the (VANET architecture. In this work, a novel protocol that aims to achieve a better traffic management is proposed. The overal system is able to reduce traffic level inside the city exploiting inter-communication among vehicles and support infrastructures also known as (V2V and (V2I communications. We design a network protocol called (STMP that takes advantages of IEEE 802.11p standard. On each road several sensors system are placed and they are responsible of monitoring. Gathered data are spread in the network exploiting ad-hoc protocol messages. The increasing knowledge about environment conditions make possible to take preventive actions. Moreover, having a realtime monitoring of the lanes it is possible to reveal roads and city blocks congestions in a shorter time. An external entity to the (VANET is responsible to manage traffic and rearrange traffic along the lanes of the city avoiding huge traffic levels.

  18. Dynamic methods of air traffic flow management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacek SKORUPSKI

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Air traffic management is a complex hierarchical system. Hierarchy levels can be defined according to decision making time horizon or to analyze area volume. For medium time horizon and wide analysis area, the air traffic flow management services were established. Their main task is to properly co-ordinate air traffic in European airspace, so as to minimize delays arising in congested sectors. Those services have to assure high safety level at the same time. Thus it is a very complex task, with many goals, many decision variables and many constraints.In the paper review of the methods developed for aiding air traffic flow management services is presented. More detailed description of a dynamic method is given. This method is based on stochastic capacity and scenario analysis. Some problems in utilization of presented methods are also pointed out, so are the next research possibilities.

  19. Young Drivers Perceptual Learning Styles Preferences and Traffic Accidents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana Čičević

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Young drivers are over-represented in crash and fatality statistics. One way of dealing with this problem is to achieve primary prevention through driver education and training. Factors of traffic accidents related to gender, age, driving experience, and self-assessments of safety and their relationship to perceptual learning styles (LS preferences have been analyzed in this study. The results show that auditory is the most prominent LS. Drivers in general, as well as drivers without traffic accidents favour visual and tactile LS. Both inexperienced and highly experienced drivers show relatively high preference of kinaesthetic style. Yet, taking into account driving experience we could see that the role of kinaesthetic LS is reduced, since individual LS has become more important. Based on the results of this study it can be concluded that a multivariate and multistage approach to driver education, taking into account differences in LS preferences, would be highly beneficial for traffic safety.

  20. Impact of microbial distributions on food safety

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bassett, J.; Jackson, T.; Jewell, K.; Jongenburger, I.; Zwietering, M.H.

    2010-01-01

    This document discusses mechanisms impacting on physical distributions of microorganisms in foods, characteristics and suitability of frequency distributions employed to model microbial distributions, and the impact of both physical and frequency distributions on illness risk and food safety

  1. Evaluation of the traffic safety benefits of a lower speed limit and restriction of trucks to use of right lane only on I-10 over the Atchafalaya Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    To improve traffic operation and safety, several states have implemented truck lane restriction and differential speed limit policies on freeways. In response to an 11-vehicle crash in September 2003, the Louisiana State Department of Transportation ...

  2. Short-term and long-term effects of GDP on traffic deaths in 18 OECD countries, 1960-2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dadgar, Iman; Norström, Thor

    2017-02-01

    Research suggests that increases in gross domestic product (GDP) lead to increases in traffic deaths plausibly due to the increased road traffic induced by an expanding economy. However, there also seems to exist a long-term effect of economic growth that is manifested in improved traffic safety and reduced rates of traffic deaths. Previous studies focus on either the short-term, procyclical effect, or the long-term, protective effect. The aim of the present study is to estimate the short-term and long-term effects jointly in order to assess the net impact of GDP on traffic mortality. We extracted traffic death rates for the period 1960-2011 from the WHO Mortality Database for 18 OECD countries. Data on GDP/capita were obtained from the Maddison Project. We performed error correction modelling to estimate the short-term and long-term effects of GDP on the traffic death rates. The estimates from the error correction modelling for the entire study period suggested that a one-unit increase (US$1000) in GDP/capita yields an instantaneous short-term increase in the traffic death rate by 0.58 (pGDP leads to an immediate increase in traffic deaths. However, after the mid-1970s this short-term effect is more than outweighed by a markedly stronger protective long-term effect, whereas the reverse is true for the period before the mid-1970s. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  3. Preliminary study on alterations of altitude road traffic in China from 2006 to 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Hui; Yin, Zhiyong; Xiang, Hongyi; Liao, Zhikang; Wang, Zhengguo

    2017-01-01

    Introduction Road traffic can play an important role in strengthening regional economic activities, especially at high altitude, and it is necessary to know important traffic-related information. Although previous studies reported on road traffic in China, there has been little research on high-altitude road traffic to date. Method The annual official census of road traffic safety from 2006 to 2013 was used to obtain data on the general population, registered drivers, registered vehicles, newly built roads, road traffic accidents (RTAs), mortality rate per 100 000 populations and per 10 000 vehicles in high-altitude provinces, including Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Chongqing. These provincial data were reviewed retrospectively, with the national data as the reference. Statistical analysis (i.e., t test) was used to compare the estimated average annual change rate of population, number of registered drivers, registered vehicles, and newly built roads in high-altitude provinces with the national rates. Results Compared with the national data, there are significantly higher annual rates of population growth in Tibet and Xinjiang, registered drivers in Gansu, registered vehicles in Gansu, Sichuan, and Chongqing, and newly built roads in Tibet and Qinghai. Among the investigated provinces, Tibet, Qinghai, and Yunnan had a higher proportion of the roads with the high class. RTAs and RTA-induced casualties in the high-altitude provinces indicated a decreasing trend. The mortality rate per 10 000 vehicles and per 100 000 populations showed a decreasing trend, while the RTA-related mortality rate in Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu remained high. Conclusions Major changes for road traffic in high-altitude provinces have occurred over the past decade; however, the RTA-related mortality rate in high-altitude provinces has remained high. This study furthers understanding about road traffic safety in China; further studies on road traffic safety at

  4. Preliminary study on alterations of altitude road traffic in China from 2006 to 2013.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hui Zhao

    Full Text Available Road traffic can play an important role in strengthening regional economic activities, especially at high altitude, and it is necessary to know important traffic-related information. Although previous studies reported on road traffic in China, there has been little research on high-altitude road traffic to date.The annual official census of road traffic safety from 2006 to 2013 was used to obtain data on the general population, registered drivers, registered vehicles, newly built roads, road traffic accidents (RTAs, mortality rate per 100 000 populations and per 10 000 vehicles in high-altitude provinces, including Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Chongqing. These provincial data were reviewed retrospectively, with the national data as the reference. Statistical analysis (i.e., t test was used to compare the estimated average annual change rate of population, number of registered drivers, registered vehicles, and newly built roads in high-altitude provinces with the national rates.Compared with the national data, there are significantly higher annual rates of population growth in Tibet and Xinjiang, registered drivers in Gansu, registered vehicles in Gansu, Sichuan, and Chongqing, and newly built roads in Tibet and Qinghai. Among the investigated provinces, Tibet, Qinghai, and Yunnan had a higher proportion of the roads with the high class. RTAs and RTA-induced casualties in the high-altitude provinces indicated a decreasing trend. The mortality rate per 10 000 vehicles and per 100 000 populations showed a decreasing trend, while the RTA-related mortality rate in Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu remained high.Major changes for road traffic in high-altitude provinces have occurred over the past decade; however, the RTA-related mortality rate in high-altitude provinces has remained high. This study furthers understanding about road traffic safety in China; further studies on road traffic safety at high altitude should be

  5. Estimating impact on clover-grass yield caused by traffic intensities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, R N; Green, Ole; Kristensen, Kristian

    2009-01-01

    Steer and a 15 m3 Kimadan slurry tanker on two axels, was used to perform the simulated traffic treatment on the parcels. The different traffic intensities are combinations of different tire pressure (1,0 and 2,5 bar), tire load (3000 and 6000 kg), time of year and number of passes (variating from 0 to 8...... components must be determined.   The objective of this paper was to measure yield affects on clover-grass as a consequence of different traffic intensities. The experiments were carried out in the context of a full scale field trial. A 14 hectare full scale grass-clover field trial with 24 different traffic......). The harvesting procedure was preformed with a Haldrup plot harvester modified with RTK-GPS. This paper shows the initial results from measuring the yield affects References M.A. Hamza, M.A.; Anderson, W.K 2005. Soil compaction in cropping systems: A review of the nature, causes and possible solutionsRaper , R...

  6. The relieving effects of shelter modes on physiological stress of traffic police in summer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, G. Z.; Wang, Y. J.; Bu, W. T.; Lu, Y. Z.; Li, Ke; Li, Z. H.

    2018-03-01

    In summer, high temperature and strong sun radiation last for a long time. However, traffic police still stick to their positions to ensure normal traffic order. Therefore, the health and safety of traffic police are challenged by the high temperature weather. To protect the safety of the traffic police in the outdoor high temperature environment, some shelter modes, such as sun hat and sun umbrella are selected for duty traffic police. The relieving effects on the physiological stress of the shelter modes are analyzed by comparison of the physiological parameters in these shelter modes. The results show that sun umbrella has a good effect on relieving physiological stress. And sun hat has no effect on relieving physiological stress, although it avoids the direct sunlight on the face. However, it causes the increase of the thermal sensation. This study can provide important methods for health protecting of traffic police in the outdoor high temperature environment. It also provides a theoretical support for the revision of the outdoor high temperature labour protection standard.

  7. Traffic conflict assessment for non-lane-based movements of motorcycles under congested conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Long Xuan Nguyen

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Traffic conflict under congested conditions is one of the main safety issues of motorcycle traffic in developing countries. Unlike cars, motorcycles often display non-lane-based movements such as swerving or oblique following of a lead vehicle when traffic becomes congested. Very few studies have quantitatively evaluated the effects of such non-lane-based movements on traffic conflict. Therefore, in this study we aim to develop an integrated model to assess the traffic conflict of motorcycles under congested conditions. The proposed model includes a concept of safety space to describe the non-lane-based movements unique to motorcycles, new features developed for traffic conflict assessment such as parameters of acceleration and deceleration, and the conditions for choosing a lead vehicle. Calibration data were extracted from video clips taken at two road segments in Ho Chi Minh City. A simulation based on the model was developed to verify the dynamic non-lane-based movements of motorcycles. Subsequently, the assessment of traffic conflict was validated by calculating the probability of sudden braking at each time interval according to the change in the density of motorcycle flow. Our findings underscore the fact that higher flow density may lead to conflicts associated with a greater probability of sudden breaking. Three types of motorcycle traffic conflicts were confirmed, and the proportions of each type were calculated and discussed.

  8. Modeling mechanical restriction differences between car and heavy truck in two-lane cellular automata traffic flow model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xin; Li, Xingang; Xiao, Yao; Jia, Bin

    2016-06-01

    Real traffic is heterogeneous with car and truck. Due to mechanical restrictions, the car and the truck have different limited deceleration capabilities, which are important factors in safety driving. This paper extends the single lane safety driving (SD) model with limited deceleration capability to two-lane SD model, in which car-truck heterogeneous traffic is considered. A car has a larger limited deceleration capability while a heavy truck has a smaller limited deceleration capability as a result of loaded goods. Then the safety driving conditions are different as the types of the following and the leading vehicles vary. In order to eliminate the well-known plug in heterogeneous two-lane traffic, it is assumed that heavy truck has active deceleration behavior when the heavy truck perceives the forming plug. The lane-changing decisions are also determined by the safety driving conditions. The fundamental diagram, spatiotemporal diagram, and lane-changing frequency were investigated to show the effect of mechanical restriction on heterogeneous traffic flow. It was shown that there would be still three traffic phases in heterogeneous traffic condition; the active deceleration of the heavy truck could well eliminate the plug; the lane-changing frequency was low in synchronized flow; the flow and velocity would decrease as the proportion of heavy truck grows or the limited deceleration capability of heavy truck drops; and the flow could be improved with lane control measures.

  9. Cooperative automated driving for various traffic scenarios : experimental validation in the GCDC 2016

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dolk, Victor; Ouden, Jos Den; Steeghs, Sander; Devanesan, Jason Gideon; Badshah, Irfan; Sudhakaran, Adityen; Elferink, Koos; Chakraborty, Debayan

    2018-01-01

    Cooperative automated driving is a promising technology to improve road safety, fuel consumption, and traffic throughput without the need to expand the current infrastructure. To accelerate the developments in cooperative driving toward deployment in realistic traffic, the second grand cooperative

  10. Pedestrian Urban Safety System and Comfort at Traffic Signals PUSSYCATS : new pedestrian facilities : technique, observations and opinions, a drive-project in France, the UK and The Netherlands.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Levelt, P.B.M.

    1994-01-01

    PUSSYCATS (Pedestrian Urban Safety System and Comfort at Traffic Signals) is a new system incorporating technical improvements better adapted to pedestrians needs and behaviour. A Kerb-side detector mat replaces the push buttons, with infrared sensors detecting the presence of pedestrians on the

  11. Air pollution burden of illness from traffic in Toronto

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKeown, D.; Campbell, M.; Bassil, K.; Morgan, C.; Lalani, M.; Macfarlane, R.; Bienefeld, M.

    2007-11-01

    This paper examined the health impacts of air pollution from traffic in Toronto. The paper provided a review of scientific studies on the health effects of vehicle pollution as well as a quantitative assessment of the economic costs and the burden of illness attributed to traffic pollution in Toronto. The report also assessed air pollution and traffic trends in the city, and outlined initiatives being conducted to reduce vehicle-related pollution. The study used the new air quality benefits tool (AQBAT) which determines the burden of illness and the economic impacts of traffic-related air pollution. Air modelling specialists were consulted in order to determine the contribution of traffic-related pollutants to overall pollution levels using data on traffic counts and vehicle emissions factors. The air model also considered dispersion, transport and and the transformation of compounds emitted from vehicles. Results of the study showed that traffic pollution caused approximately 440 premature deaths and 1700 hospitalizations per year. Children in the city experienced more than 1200 acute bronchitis episodes per year as a result of air pollution from traffic. Mortality-related costs associated with traffic pollution in Toronto were estimated at $2.2 billion. It was concluded that the city must pursue the implementation of sustainable transportation policies and programs which foster and enable the expansion and use of public transport. 47 refs., 8 tabs., 9 figs

  12. A Cooperative Traffic Control of Vehicle–Intersection (CTCVI) for the Reduction of Traffic Delays and Fuel Consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jinjian; Dridi, Mahjoub; El-Moudni, Abdellah

    2016-01-01

    The problem of reducing traffic delays and decreasing fuel consumption simultaneously in a network of intersections without traffic lights is solved by a cooperative traffic control algorithm, where the cooperation is executed based on the connection of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I). This resolution of the problem contains two main steps. The first step concerns the itinerary of which intersections are chosen by vehicles to arrive at their destination from their starting point. Based on the principle of minimal travel distance, each vehicle chooses its itinerary dynamically based on the traffic loads in the adjacent intersections. The second step is related to the following proposed cooperative procedures to allow vehicles to pass through each intersection rapidly and economically: on one hand, according to the real-time information sent by vehicles via V2I in the edge of the communication zone, each intersection applies Dynamic Programming (DP) to cooperatively optimize the vehicle passing sequence with minimal traffic delays so that the vehicles may rapidly pass the intersection under the relevant safety constraints; on the other hand, after receiving this sequence, each vehicle finds the optimal speed profiles with the minimal fuel consumption by an exhaustive search. The simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm can significantly reduce both travel delays and fuel consumption compared with other papers under different traffic volumes. PMID:27999333

  13. A Cooperative Traffic Control of Vehicle–Intersection (CTCVI for the Reduction of Traffic Delays and Fuel Consumption

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinjian Li

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The problem of reducing traffic delays and decreasing fuel consumption simultaneously in a network of intersections without traffic lights is solved by a cooperative traffic control algorithm, where the cooperation is executed based on the connection of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I. This resolution of the problem contains two main steps. The first step concerns the itinerary of which intersections are chosen by vehicles to arrive at their destination from their starting point. Based on the principle of minimal travel distance, each vehicle chooses its itinerary dynamically based on the traffic loads in the adjacent intersections. The second step is related to the following proposed cooperative procedures to allow vehicles to pass through each intersection rapidly and economically: on one hand, according to the real-time information sent by vehicles via V2I in the edge of the communication zone, each intersection applies Dynamic Programming (DP to cooperatively optimize the vehicle passing sequence with minimal traffic delays so that the vehicles may rapidly pass the intersection under the relevant safety constraints; on the other hand, after receiving this sequence, each vehicle finds the optimal speed profiles with the minimal fuel consumption by an exhaustive search. The simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm can significantly reduce both travel delays and fuel consumption compared with other papers under different traffic volumes.

  14. Macro Data Analysis of Traffic Accidents in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annisa Jusuf

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a macro data analysis of Indonesian road accidents in the form of statistical data. Traffic accidents and their subsequent fatalities bring enormous social and economic consequences. A good understanding of the problem is expected to initiate major action toward the improvement of road and vehicle safety. One important milestone is the collection and analysis of road accident data. The results from this study portray the ‘tangled threads’ problem of traffic in Indonesia. The population number and number of vehicles have increased steadily, as has been accurately predicted by experts. Meanwhile, there is not enough infrastructure growth. Motorcycles are the main contributor to traffic accidents and fatalities due to their popularity as an effective vehicle to jump traffic jams. The ‘tangled threads’ need an extremely creative and comprehensive solution.

  15. The impact of safety legislation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turner, J.L.; Gill, J.R.

    1989-01-01

    The impact of medicines legislation for radiopharmaceuticals is discussed with regard to product licensing, production and quality control, marketing authorisation within the EC, licensing exemptions and authorisation for administration. As regards safety legislation for radiopharmaceuticals the requirements of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985 are outlined. (UK)

  16. Spatial Analysis Methods of Road Traffic Collisions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Loo, Becky P. Y.; Anderson, Tessa Kate

    Spatial Analysis Methods of Road Traffic Collisions centers on the geographical nature of road crashes, and uses spatial methods to provide a greater understanding of the patterns and processes that cause them. Written by internationally known experts in the field of transport geography, the book...... outlines the key issues in identifying hazardous road locations (HRLs), considers current approaches used for reducing and preventing road traffic collisions, and outlines a strategy for improved road safety. The book covers spatial accuracy, validation, and other statistical issues, as well as link...

  17. Multi-Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal Systems (MMITSS) Basic Safety Message

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — Data were collected during the Multi-Modal Intelligent Transportation Signal Systems (MMITSS) study. MMITSS is a next-generation traffic signal system that seeks to...

  18. Risk based decision support for new air traffic operations with reduced aircraft separation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Speijker, L.J.P.

    2007-01-01

    With the steady increase in air traffic, the aviation system is under continuous pressure to increase aircraft handling capacity. Various new Air Traffic Management systems and flight procedures are proposed to increase airport capacity while maintaining the required level of safety. Newly proposed

  19. Mutation detection for inventories of traffic signs from street-level panoramic images

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hazelhoff, L.; Creusen, I.M.; With, de P.H.N.

    2014-01-01

    Road safety is positively influenced by both adequate placement and optimal visibility of traffic signs. As their visibility degrades over time due to e.g. aging, vandalism, accidents and vegetation coverage, up-to-date inven­tories of traffic signs are highly attractive for preserving a high road

  20. A Methodology for Evaluating Quantitative Nuclear Safety Culture Impact

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Han, Kiyoon; Jae, Moosung [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-05-15

    Through several accidents of NPPs including the Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 and Chernobyl accidents in 1986, nuclear safety culture has been emphasized in reactor safety world-widely. In Korea, KHNP evaluates the safety culture of NPP itself. KHNP developed the principles of the safety culture in consideration of the international standards. A questionnaire and interview questions are also developed based on these principles and it is used for evaluating the safety culture. However, existing methodology to evaluate the safety culture has some disadvantages. First, it is difficult to maintain the consistency of the assessment. Second, the period of safety culture assessment is too long (every two years) so it has limitations in preventing accidents occurred by a lack of safety culture. Third, it is not possible to measure the change in the risk of NPPs by weak safety culture since it is not clearly explains the effect of safety culture on the safety of NPPs. In this study, Safety Culture Impact Assessment Model (SCIAM) is developed overcoming these disadvantages. In this study, SCIAM which overcoming disadvantages of exiting safety culture assessment method is developed. SCIAM uses SCII to monitor the statues of the safety culture periodically and also uses RCDF to quantify the safety culture impact on NPP's safety. It is significant that SCIAM represents the standard of the healthy nuclear safety culture, while the exiting safety culture assessment presented only vulnerability of the safety culture of organization. SCIAM might contribute to monitoring the level of safety culture periodically and, to improving the safety of NPP.

  1. A Methodology for Evaluating Quantitative Nuclear Safety Culture Impact

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Han, Kiyoon; Jae, Moosung

    2015-01-01

    Through several accidents of NPPs including the Fukushima Daiichi in 2011 and Chernobyl accidents in 1986, nuclear safety culture has been emphasized in reactor safety world-widely. In Korea, KHNP evaluates the safety culture of NPP itself. KHNP developed the principles of the safety culture in consideration of the international standards. A questionnaire and interview questions are also developed based on these principles and it is used for evaluating the safety culture. However, existing methodology to evaluate the safety culture has some disadvantages. First, it is difficult to maintain the consistency of the assessment. Second, the period of safety culture assessment is too long (every two years) so it has limitations in preventing accidents occurred by a lack of safety culture. Third, it is not possible to measure the change in the risk of NPPs by weak safety culture since it is not clearly explains the effect of safety culture on the safety of NPPs. In this study, Safety Culture Impact Assessment Model (SCIAM) is developed overcoming these disadvantages. In this study, SCIAM which overcoming disadvantages of exiting safety culture assessment method is developed. SCIAM uses SCII to monitor the statues of the safety culture periodically and also uses RCDF to quantify the safety culture impact on NPP's safety. It is significant that SCIAM represents the standard of the healthy nuclear safety culture, while the exiting safety culture assessment presented only vulnerability of the safety culture of organization. SCIAM might contribute to monitoring the level of safety culture periodically and, to improving the safety of NPP

  2. Automatic Generation of Least-Possible-Impact Traffic Management Initiatives, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Weather accounts for 70% of the annual cost of air traffic delays and cancellations, of which about 60% are estimated to be avoidable. Traffic Management Initiatives...

  3. Modelling of road traffic fatalities in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goel, Rahul

    2018-03-01

    Passenger modes in India include walking, cycling, buses, trains, intermediate public transport modes (IPT) such as three-wheeled auto rickshaws or tuk-tuks, motorised two-wheelers (2W) as well as cars. However, epidemiological studies of traffic crashes in India have been limited in their approach to account for the exposure of these road users. In 2011, for the first time, census in India reported travel distance and mode of travel for workers. A Poisson-lognormal mixture regression model is developed at the state level to explore the relationship of road deaths of all the road users with commute travel distance by different on-road modes. The model controlled for diesel consumption (proxy for freight traffic), length of national highways, proportion of population in urban areas, and built-up population density. The results show that walking, cycling and, interestingly, IPT are associated with lower risk of road deaths, while 2W, car and bus are associated with higher risk. Promotion of IPT has twofold benefits of increasing safety as well as providing a sustainable mode of transport. The mode shift scenarios show that, for similar mode shift across the states, the resulting trends in road deaths are highly dependent on the baseline mode shares. The most worrying trend is the steep growth of death burden resulting from mode shift of walking and cycling to 2W. While the paper illustrates a limited set of mode shift scenarios involving two modes at a time, the model can be applied to assess safety impacts resulting from a more complex set of scenarios. Copyright © 2018 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. Seat belt, DWI, and other traffic violations among recent immigrants in Florida and Tennessee.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-01

    Phase I of this project identified two States, Florida and Tennessee, that maintain information on drivers traffic violations and residency status. : Phase II analyzed State databases to examine seat belt nonuse, DWI, and other traffic safety viol...

  5. Traffic enforcement in Europe: effects, measures, needs and future. Final report of the ESCAPE Consortium. (The acroynm ESCAPE stands for Enhanced Safety Coming from Appropriate Police Enforcement).

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mäkinen, T. Zaidel, D.M. Andersson, G. Biecheler-Fretel, M.-B. Christ, R. Cauzard, J.-P. Elvik, R. Goldenbeld, C. Gelau, C. Heidstra, J. Jayet, M.-C. Nilsson, G. Papaioanou, P. Quimby, A. Rehnova, V. & Vaa, T.

    2003-01-01

    The objectives of the project were to identify important issues of traffic law enforcement in the EU, examine traditional and innovative enforcement approaches and tools, and assess their potential to improve compliance for increased safety on roads. The following main issues were addressed: the

  6. The impact of health information technology on patient safety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasser K. Alotaibi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Since the original Institute of Medicine (IOM report was published there has been an accelerated development and adoption of health information technology with varying degrees of evidence about the impact of health information technology on patient safety. This article is intended to review the current available scientific evidence on the impact of different health information technologies on improving patient safety outcomes. We conclude that health information technology improves patient’s safety by reducing medication errors, reducing adverse drug reactions, and improving compliance to practice guidelines. There should be no doubt that health information technology is an important tool for improving healthcare quality and safety. Healthcare organizations need to be selective in which technology to invest in, as literature shows that some technologies have limited evidence in improving patient safety outcomes.

  7. The impact of health information technology on patient safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alotaibi, Yasser K; Federico, Frank

    2017-12-01

    Since the original Institute of Medicine (IOM) report was published there has been an accelerated development and adoption of health information technology with varying degrees of evidence about the impact of health information technology on patient safety.  This article is intended to review the current available scientific evidence on the impact of different health information technologies on improving patient safety outcomes. We conclude that health information technology improves patient's safety by reducing medication errors, reducing adverse drug reactions, and improving compliance to practice guidelines. There should be no doubt that health information technology is an important tool for improving healthcare quality and safety. Healthcare organizations need to be selective in which technology to invest in, as literature shows that some technologies have limited evidence in improving patient safety outcomes.

  8. Safety analysis of urban arterials at the meso level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jia; Wang, Xuesong

    2017-11-01

    Urban arterials form the main structure of street networks. They typically have multiple lanes, high traffic volume, and high crash frequency. Classical crash prediction models investigate the relationship between arterial characteristics and traffic safety by treating road segments and intersections as isolated units. This micro-level analysis does not work when examining urban arterial crashes because signal spacing is typically short for urban arterials, and there are interactions between intersections and road segments that classical models do not accommodate. Signal spacing also has safety effects on both intersections and road segments that classical models cannot fully account for because they allocate crashes separately to intersections and road segments. In addition, classical models do not consider the impact on arterial safety of the immediately surrounding street network pattern. This study proposes a new modeling methodology that will offer an integrated treatment of intersections and road segments by combining signalized intersections and their adjacent road segments into a single unit based on road geometric design characteristics and operational conditions. These are called meso-level units because they offer an analytical approach between micro and macro. The safety effects of signal spacing and street network pattern were estimated for this study based on 118 meso-level units obtained from 21 urban arterials in Shanghai, and were examined using CAR (conditional auto regressive) models that corrected for spatial correlation among the units within individual arterials. Results showed shorter arterial signal spacing was associated with higher total and PDO (property damage only) crashes, while arterials with a greater number of parallel roads were associated with lower total, PDO, and injury crashes. The findings from this study can be used in the traffic safety planning, design, and management of urban arterials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All

  9. Training of Drivers in the Function of Road Traffic Safety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinan Alispahić

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available The problem of the participation of young drivers in trafficaccidents is constantly present and represents a significant socialproblem. In complex and dynamic conditions of moderntraffic flows, the young drivers are exposed to various and unforeseenhazard situations and events which they had not experiencedduring the basic training. Therefore, they should be providedwith the possibility of acquiring additional experiences insolving typical hazard situations in traffic. This is possible bythe system of advanced training which places the course participantin the situation of facing possible hazards, with the aim ofincreasing the awareness of risk in driving and behaviour at thesteering wheel. Advanced driver training is based on the specificprogram and training the drivers to acquire additional experiencesin solving dangerous traffic situations.

  10. Identification of Risk Factors Influencing Road Traffic Accidents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Touahmia

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Road traffic accidents (RTAs are becoming a major problem around the world, incurring enormous losses of human and economic resources. Recent reports from the World Health Organization (WHO reveal that each year more than 1.25 million people are killed and 50 million are injured in road traffic accidents worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, statistics show that at least one traffic accident occurs every minute, causing up to 7,000 deaths and over 39,000 injuries annually. In this study, the main causes of RATs in the province of Hail are examined. The data was collected through the use of a survey which was developed to evaluate the effect of influencing parameters on RTA rate. The results show that 67% of RTAs result from human factors, 29% from road conditions and 4% from vehicle defects. Excessive speed and violation of traffic rules and regulations were found to be the main causes of RATs. Low rates of compliance with speed limit signs and seat-belt regulations were also observed. These findings highlight the need of strengthening effective traffic law enforcement alongside with improving traffic safety and raising public awareness.

  11. Improved seat and manniken models to study rear impact protection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kant, A.R.; Wu, P.; Shanmugavelu, I.; Mondeau, S.R.

    1998-01-01

    Occupant injury in automobile rear-end collisions is rapidly becoming one of the most aggravating traffic safety problems with high human suffering and societal costs. Recent studies in Europe, Canada and Japan have found that injury claims, in particular neck injuries due to rear impact have

  12. Web service availability-impact of error recovery and traffic model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinello, Magnos; Kaa-hat niche, Mohamed; Kanoun, Karama

    2005-01-01

    Internet is often used for transaction based applications such as online banking, stock trading and shopping, where the service interruption or outages are unacceptable. Therefore, it is important for designers of such applications to analyze how hardware, software and performance related failures affect the quality of service delivered to the users. This paper presents analytical models for evaluating the service availability of web cluster architectures. A composite performance and availability modeling approach is defined considering various causes of service unavailability. In particular, web cluster systems are modeled taking into account: two error recovery strategies (client transparent and non-client-transparent) as well as two traffic models (Poisson and modulated Poisson). Sensitivity analysis results are presented to show their impact on the web service availability. The obtained results provide useful guidelines to web designers

  13. Obtaining traffic information by urban air quality inspection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Federico, G; Simone, A.; Simone, A.; Traverso, M.; Nicolosi, S.

    2006-01-01

    Transportation and its environmental impacts are a major component of urban environmental management. At the same time, transportation and mobility are an important part of urban economics and quality of life. To analyze urban transportation and its environmental impacts, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach is needed. Unfortunately, theoretical works about traffic flow and pollutant dynamic have independently evolved, rarely meeting contact points. Our works aims to provide a contribution in linking traffic flow and pollutant dynamic by proponing a new traffic model, able to calculate the number of running vehicles, once the ground level of an arbitrary pollutant concentration is know. The validation and simulation of this model is made possible by the training of an adaptive.(Author)

  14. Determinants of road traffic safety : new evidence from Australia using state-space analysis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nghiem, S. Commandeur, J.J.F. & Connelly, L.B.

    2016-01-01

    This paper examines the determinants of road traffic crash fatalities in Queensland for the period 1958–2007 using a state-space time-series model. In particular, we investigate the effects of policies that aimed to reduce drink-driving on traffic fatalities, as well as indicators of the economic

  15. Virtual Reality Game Education to Learn Traffic Regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andru Deva Lukito

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract – Traffic accident has become number 3 of children death cause in the world according to WHO[1]. Traffic accident that involve children often caused by their own by breaking the law or regulation. Therefor education about traffic regulation and law including traffic sign and its meaning must be given to children early. Because education means process to change a person or a group attitude and behavior in order to make them mature through teaching and training [2]. One of them that can be used is digital media.  One of interactive digital media is digital game, various form of digital game start from 2D, 2.5D, 3D with many point of view and new technology. VR (Virtual Reality as new digital media where alternate reality exist to test various theory without any real consequences, according to Greenbaum “Virtual Reality is an alternate world filled with computer-generated images that respond to human movements. These simulated environments are usually visited with the aid of an expensive data suit which features stereophonic video goggles and fiber-optic data gloves”[3]. Greenbaum statement before were make VR suitable to test traffic law and regulation and educate kid to obey the traffic sign and regulation without real consequences from real world. This Journal contain the result of using virtual reality as traffic regulation education media. Education material that arranged consisting traffic sign that appear on the road and safety riding gear. Keywords – Virtual Reality, Traffic sign, Road traffic, children, education

  16. Driver behavior analysis during ACC activation and deactivation in a real traffic environment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pauwelussen, J.; Feenstra, P.J.

    2010-01-01

    For the development of a traffic-simulation model to estimate the effect of adaptive cruise control (ACC) systems on traffic safety, throughput, and environment, data of a field operational test (FOT) were analyzed, in which vehicles were equipped with ACC and lane-departure warning (LDW) systems.

  17. Effects of alcohol (BAC 0.5‰) and ecstasy (MDMA 100 mg) on simulated driving performance and traffic safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veldstra, Janet L; Brookhuis, Karel A; de Waard, Dick; Molmans, Barbara H W; Verstraete, Alain G; Skopp, Gisela; Jantos, Ricarda

    2012-08-01

    An increasing number of fatal road-accidents have been reported in which ecstasy was found in the blood of drivers. Although, ecstasy is frequently found to have been used in combination with alcohol, studies on the acute effects of ecstasy co-administered with alcohol on driving performance are relatively rare. The present study was designed to establish the extent of driver impairment as a consequence of ecstasy or combined ecstasy and alcohol use as compared to driving under the influence of 0.3‰, 0.5‰ and 0.8‰ alcohol. Furthermore, subjective performance was also assessed. Alcohol and ecstasy mainly influenced automated driving performance such as lateral and speed control. However, small to no effects of the substances were found on more complex driving behaviour. Overall, variance within the different driving measures was high especially when participants were treated with 3.4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and alcohol. Furthermore, equivalence testing showed that combined use may lead to impaired driving for some, but not all, drivers. Participants rated their own performance to be slightly worse than normal in both studies. Since driving was actually seriously deteriorated, this was a falsely positive assessment of their condition. The dissociation between subjective perceptions and objective performance decrements are important notions for traffic safety since this may affect a driver's judgement of whether or not it is safe to drive. For example, an intoxicated individual might decide to drive because the feelings of alertness caused by MDMA cloud the impairing effects of other drugs such as alcohol, thereby creating a potentially serious risk for traffic safety.

  18. Emotional stress and traffic accidents: the impact of separation and divorce.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagarde, Emmanuel; Chastang, Jean-François; Gueguen, Alice; Coeuret-Pellicer, Mireille; Chiron, Mireille; Lafont, Sylviane

    2004-11-01

    Personal responses to stressful life events are suspected of increasing the risk of serious traffic accidents. We analyzed data from a French cohort study (the GAZEL cohort), including a retrospective driving behavior questionnaire, from 13,915 participants (10,542 men age 52-62 years and 3373 women age 47-62 years in 2001). Follow-up data covered 1993-2000. Hazard ratios for serious accidents (n = 713) were computed by Cox's proportional hazard regression with time-dependent covariates. Separate analyses were also performed to consider only at-fault accidents. Marital separation or divorce was associated with an increased risk of a serious accident (all serious accidents: hazard ratio 2.9, 95% confidence interval = 1.7-5.0; at-fault accidents: 4.4, 2.3-8.3). The impact of separation and divorce did not differ according to alcohol consumption levels. Other life events associated with increased risk of serious accident were a child leaving home (all accidents: 1.2, 0.97-1.6; at-fault accidents: 1.5, 1.1-2.1), an important purchase (all accidents: 1.4, 1.1-1.7; at-fault accidents: 1.6, 1.2-2.1), and hospitalization of the partner (all accidents: 1.4, 1.1-2.0). This study suggests that recent separation and divorce are associated with an increase in serious traffic accidents.

  19. The Safety of Transnational Imported Second-Hand Cars: A Case Study on Vehicle-to-Vehicle Crashes in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anatolie Coșciug

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Certain features of imported second-hand cars (e.g., age, degree of wear and tear, technical design can increase their likelihood for traffic crashes. Three official datasets which cover an eight year period (2008–2015 are used to test the connection between importation of second-hand cars and different types of traffic crashes. The traffic crashes database was provided by the Traffic Department of the General Inspectorate of Romanian Police (GIRPTD. The car registration database was provided by Driving-License and Vehicles-Registration Direction (DLVRD. Right-hand driving (RHD cars database was provided by the Romanian Automotive Registry (RAR. A spatio-temporal visualization of data was performed using Geographic Information System (GIS while for the statistical analysis we use regression models and Pearson-Correlation-coefficient. The analysis suggests that a significant part of the variation in the volume of traffic accidents can be explained by the volume of imported second-hand cars at the county level. Moreover, an even stronger direct relation exists between the number of imported second-hand cars and Severe Traffic Accidents but also in the case of RHD imported second-hand cars. The overall impact of imported second-hand cars on the traffic safety in Romania is significant but small in comparison to other types of car registration. Study results belong to the category of empirical evidence production which can improve the quality of existing traffic regulations focused both on organizing and ensuring traffic safety, and on the policy of sustainable transport infrastructure development.

  20. Relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts recorded by drive recorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Guangquan; Cheng, Bo; Kuzumaki, Seigo; Mei, Bingsong

    2011-08-01

    Road traffic conflicts can be used to estimate the probability of accident occurrence, assess road safety, or evaluate road safety programs if the relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts is known. To this end, we propose a model for the relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts recorded by drive recorders (DRs). DRs were installed in 50 cars in Beijing to collect records of traffic conflicts. Data containing 1366 conflicts were collected in 193 days. The hourly distributions of conflicts and accidents were used to model the relationship between accidents and conflicts. To eliminate time series and base number effects, we defined and used 2 parameters: average annual number of accidents per 10,000 vehicles per hour and average number of conflicts per 10,000 vehicles per hour. A model was developed to describe the relationship between the two parameters. If A(i) = average annual number of accidents per 10,000 vehicles per hour at hour i, and E(i) = average number of conflicts per 10,000 vehicles per hour at hour i, the relationship can be expressed as [Formula in text] (α>0, β>0). The average number of traffic accidents increases as the number of conflicts rises, but the rate of increase decelerates as the number of conflicts increases further. The proposed model can describe the relationship between road traffic accidents and conflicts in a simple manner. According to our analysis, the model fits the present data.

  1. Full-chain health impact assessment of traffic-related air pollution and childhood asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khreis, Haneen; de Hoogh, Kees; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J

    2018-05-01

    Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children. Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) may be an important exposure contributing to its development. In the UK, Bradford is a deprived city suffering from childhood asthma rates higher than national and regional averages and TRAP is of particular concern to the local communities. We estimated the burden of childhood asthma attributable to air pollution and specifically TRAP in Bradford. Air pollution exposures were estimated using a newly developed full-chain exposure assessment model and an existing land-use regression model (LUR). We estimated childhood population exposure to NO x and, by conversion, NO 2 at the smallest census area level using a newly developed full-chain model knitting together distinct traffic (SATURN), vehicle emission (COPERT) and atmospheric dispersion (ADMS-Urban) models. We compared these estimates with measurements and estimates from ESCAPE's LUR model. Using the UK incidence rate for childhood asthma, meta-analytical exposure-response functions, and estimates from the two exposure models, we estimated annual number of asthma cases attributable to NO 2 and NO x in Bradford, and annual number of asthma cases specifically attributable to traffic. The annual average census tract levels of NO 2 and NO x estimated using the full-chain model were 15.41 and 25.68 μg/m 3 , respectively. On average, 2.75 μg/m 3 NO 2 and 4.59 μg/m 3 NO x were specifically contributed by traffic, without minor roads and cold starts. The annual average census tract levels of NO 2 and NO x estimated using the LUR model were 21.93 and 35.60 μg/m 3 , respectively. The results indicated that up to 687 (or 38% of all) annual childhood asthma cases in Bradford may be attributable to air pollution. Up to 109 cases (6%) and 219 cases (12%) may be specifically attributable to TRAP, with and without minor roads and cold starts, respectively. This is the first study undertaking full-chain health impact assessment

  2. Regional aviation safety organisations : enhancing air transport safety through regional cooperation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ratajczyk, Mikołaj Andrzej

    2014-01-01

    Aviation safety is of global concern. Yet 43% of countries worldwide lack the expertise and administrative capacity to ensure effective safety oversight of the aviation activities for which they are responsible under international law. With air traffic predicted to double in the next 15 years and

  3. Air Traffic Control: Weak Computer Security Practices Jeopardize Flight Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-05-01

    Given the paramount importance of computer security of Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems, Congress asked the General Accounting Office to determine (1) whether the Fedcral Aviation Administration (FAA) is effectively managing physical security at ATC...

  4. A Comparative Analysis of State Traffic Safety Countermeasures and Implications for Progress “Toward Zero Deaths” in the United States : Traffic Safety Facts - Research Note

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-10-01

    States use a variety of countermeasures to reduce traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities within their jurisdictions. These countermeasures focus primarily on engineering, law enforcement, and public education (NHTSA, 2006). NHTSA's bi-annual publi...

  5. The Impact of Traffic Prioritization on Deep Space Network Mission Traffic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Esther; Segui, John; Gao, Jay; Clare, Loren; Abraham, Douglas

    2011-01-01

    A select number of missions supported by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) are demanding very high data rates. For example, the Kepler Mission was launched March 7, 2009 and at that time required the highest data rate of any NASA mission, with maximum rates of 4.33 Mb/s being provided via Ka band downlinks. The James Webb Space Telescope will require a maximum 28 Mb/s science downlink data rate also using Ka band links; as of this writing the launch is scheduled for a June 2014 launch. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched June 18, 2009, has demonstrated data rates at 100 Mb/s at lunar-Earth distances using NASA's Near Earth Network (NEN) and K-band. As further advances are made in high data rate space telecommunications, particularly with emerging optical systems, it is expected that large surges in demand on the supporting ground systems will ensue. A performance analysis of the impact of high variance in demand has been conducted using our Multi-mission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE) simulation tool. A comparison is made regarding the incorporation of Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms and the resulting ground-to-ground Wide Area Network (WAN) bandwidth necessary to meet latency requirements across different user missions. It is shown that substantial reduction in WAN bandwidth may be realized through QoS techniques when low data rate users with low-latency needs are mixed with high data rate users having delay-tolerant traffic.

  6. Impact of Construction Health & Safety Regulations on Project ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Impact of Construction Health & Safety Regulations on Project Parameters in Nigeria: Consultants and Contractors View. ... The study recommends that better attention is given to health and safety should as a project parameter and that related practice notes and guidelines should be evolved for all project stakeholders.

  7. Probabilistic assessment of NPP safety under aircraft impact

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birbraer, A.N.; Roleder, A.J.; Arhipov, S.B.

    1999-01-01

    Methodology of probabilistic assessment of NPP safety under aircraft impact is described below. The assessment is made taking into account not only the fact of aircraft fall onto the NPP building, but another casual parameters too, namely an aircraft class, velocity and mass, as well as point and angle of its impact with the building structure. This analysis can permit to justify the decrease of the required structure strength and dynamic loads on the NPP equipment. It can also be especially useful when assessing the safety of existing NPP. (author)

  8. Alcohol abuse, road traffic and safety on the site

    CERN Multimedia

    DSU Department

    2008-01-01

    In the light of the serious road accident that occurred on 3 February 2008, you are reminded that: the legal blood alcohol limit in force under the Host States’ traffic regulations (0.5 g per 1000 ml of blood) also applies on the CERN site; the consumption of alcohol is forbidden during working hours and is only tolerated in the restaurants at certain times, unless an exception is granted for special events; failure to observe these rules may result in disciplinary action by the Organization, independently of any sanctions that may be applicable pursuant to the road traffic regulations of the Host State concerned. Furthermore, the Reception and Access Control Service, the site guards and the Fire Brigade have been instructed to stop any driver in an obvious state of intoxication and to ask him to abandon his vehicle on the spot. In case of disagreement, they may also suggest that he submits to a voluntary blood alcohol level test at the CERN Medical Service or Fire Brigade...

  9. Assessment of freeway work zone safety with improved cellular automata model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guohua Liang

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available To accurately assess the safety of freeway work zones, this paper investigates the safety of vehicle lane change maneuvers with improved cellular automata model. Taking the traffic conflict and standard deviation of operating speed as the evaluation indexes, the study evaluates the freeway work zone safety. With improved deceleration probability in car-following raies and the addition of lanechanging rules under critical state, the lane-changing behavior under critical state is defined as a conflict count. Through 72 schemes of simulation runs, the possible states of the traffic flow are carefully studied. The results show that under the condition of constant saturation traffic conflict count and vehicle speed standard deviation reach their maximums when the mixed rate of heave vehicles is 40%. Meanwhile, in the case of constant heavy vehicles mix, traffic conflict count and vehicle speed standard deviation reach maximum values when saturation rate is 0. 75. Integrating ail simulation results, it is known the traffic safety in freeway work zones is classified into four levels : safe, relatively safe, relatively dangerous, and dangerous.

  10. Circulatory Markings at Double-Lane Traffic Roundabout.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bie, Jing; Lo, Hong K.; Wong, S.C.

    2008-01-01

    This paper compares two types of circulatory markings at a double-lane traffic roundabout: the concentric marking scheme and the Alberta marking scheme. The effects of these two marking schemes on drivers' lane choice behavior, delay, and safety, are compared based on data collected from before and

  11. Can cycling safety be improved by opening all unidirectional cycle paths for cycle traffic in both directions? A theoretical examination of available literature and data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Methorst, Rob; Schepers, Paul; Kamminga, Jaap; Zeegers, Theo; Fishman, Elliot

    2017-08-01

    Many studies have found bicycle-motor vehicle crashes to be more likely on bidirectional cycle paths than on unidirectional cycle paths because drivers do not expect cyclists riding at the right side of the road. In this paper we discuss the hypothesis that opening all unidirectional cycle paths for cycle traffic in both directions prevent this lack of expectancy and accordingly improves cycling safety. A new national standard requires careful consideration because a reversal is difficult once cyclists are used to their new freedom of route choice. We therefore explored the hypothesis using available data, research, and theories. The results show that of the length of cycle paths along distributor roads in the Netherlands, 72% is bidirectional. If drivers would become used to cyclists riding at the left side of the road, this result raises the question of why bidirectional cycle paths in the Netherlands still have a poor safety record compared to unidirectional cycle paths. Moreover, our exploration suggested that bidirectional cycle paths have additional safety problems. It increases the complexity of unsignalized intersections because drivers have to scan more directions in a short period of time. Moreover, there are some indications that the likelihood of frontal crashes between cyclists increases. We reject the hypothesis that opening all unidirectional cycle paths for cycle traffic in both directions will improve cycle safety. We recommend more attention for mitigating measures given the widespread application of bidirectional cycle paths in the Netherlands. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Risk Assessment on the Transition Program for Air Traffic Control Automation System Upgrade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Dong Bin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We analyzed the safety risks of the transition program for Air Traffic Control (ATC automation system upgrade by using the event tree analysis method in this paper. We decomposed the occurrence progress of the three transition phase and built the event trees corresponding to the three stages, and then we determined the probability of success of each factor and calculated probability of success of the air traffic control automation system upgrade transition. In the conclusion, we illustrate the transition program safety risk according to the results.

  13. Fall Protection Characteristics of Safety Belts and Human Impact Tolerance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hino, Yasumichi; Ohdo, Katsutoshi; Takahashi, Hiroki

    2014-08-23

    Many fatal accidents due to falls from heights have occurred at construction sites not only in Japan but also in other countries. This study aims to determine the fall prevention performance of two types of safety belts: a body belt 1) , which has been used for more than 40 yr in the Japanese construction industry as a general type of safety equipment for fall accident prevention, and a full harness 2, 3) , which has been used in many other countries. To determine human tolerance for impact trauma, this study discusses features of safety belts with reference 4-9) to relevant studies in the medical science, automobile crash safety, and aircrew safety. For this purpose, simple drop tests were carried out in a virtual workplace to measure impact load, head acceleration, and posture in the experiments, the Hybrid-III pedestrian model 10) was used as a human dummy. Hybrid-III is typically employed in official automobile crash tests (New Car Assessment Program: NCAP) and is currently recognized as a model that faithfully reproduces dynamic responses. Experimental results shows that safety performance strongly depends on both the variety of safety belts used and the shock absorbers attached onto lanyards. These findings indicate that fall prevention equipment, such as safety belts, lanyards, and shock absorbers, must be improved to reduce impact injuries to the human head and body during falls.

  14. Highway traffic simulation on multi-processor computers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanebutte, U.R.; Doss, E.; Tentner, A.M.

    1997-04-01

    A computer model has been developed to simulate highway traffic for various degrees of automation with a high level of fidelity in regard to driver control and vehicle characteristics. The model simulates vehicle maneuvering in a multi-lane highway traffic system and allows for the use of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies such as an Automated Intelligent Cruise Control (AICC). The structure of the computer model facilitates the use of parallel computers for the highway traffic simulation, since domain decomposition techniques can be applied in a straight forward fashion. In this model, the highway system (i.e. a network of road links) is divided into multiple regions; each region is controlled by a separate link manager residing on an individual processor. A graphical user interface augments the computer model kv allowing for real-time interactive simulation control and interaction with each individual vehicle and road side infrastructure element on each link. Average speed and traffic volume data is collected at user-specified loop detector locations. Further, as a measure of safety the so- called Time To Collision (TTC) parameter is being recorded.

  15. Rerouting algorithms solving the air traffic congestion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adacher, Ludovica; Flamini, Marta; Romano, Elpidio

    2017-06-01

    Congestion in the air traffic network is a problem with an increasing relevance for airlines costs as well as airspace safety. One of the major issue is the limited operative capacity of the air network. In this work an Autonomous Agent approach is proposed to solve in real time the problem of air traffic congestion. The air traffic infrastructures are modeled with a graph and are considered partitioned in different sectors. Each sector has its own decision agent dealing with the air traffic control involved in it. Each agent sector imposes a real time aircraft scheduling to respect both delay and capacity constrains. When a congestion is predicted, a new aircraft scheduling is computed. Congestion is solved when the capacity constrains are satisfied once again. This can be done by delaying on ground aircraft or/and rerouting aircraft and/or postponing the congestion. We have tested two different algorithms that calculate K feasible paths for each aircraft involved in the congestion. Some results are reported on North Italian air space.

  16. Health and safety manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-02-01

    The manual consists of the following chapters: general policies and administration; the Environmental Health and Safety Department; the Medical Services Department: biological hazards; chemical safety; confined space entry; cryogenic safety; electrical safety; emergency plans; engineering and construction; evacuations, trenching, and shoring; fire safety; gases, flammable and compressed; guarding, mechanical; ladders and scaffolds, work surfaces; laser safety; materials handling and storage; noise; personal protective equipment; pressure safety; radiation safety, ionizing and non-ionizing; sanitation; seismic safety; training, environmental health and safety; tools, power and hand-operated; traffic and transportation; and warning signs and devices

  17. Causes of road traffic accidents in Juba | Cham | South Sudan ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Drivers of private vehicles caused most accidents (37%). Most drivers (46%) were aged 20-30 years. RTAs occurred most often on city roads (89.83%). Conclusion: This leads us to conclude that a comprehensive safety system is needed that are premised on the idea of community-based awareness of traffic rules and safety ...

  18. Impact of the Road Profile on Vehicle Deceleration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vidas Žuraulis

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The article analyzes the impact of the longitudinal road profile on the efficiency of car braking estimated applying deceleration value. Different formulas are used for theoretical calculations, and therefore experimental brakes in different road slopes were performed to obtain the most accurate results. Deceleration, as one of the most important safety parameters, depends on the technical condition of the braking system, road conditions and structural and dynamic properties of the other car. Road alignments can significantly affect car manageability, because of weight transfer and extra track resistance, which may change the overall balance of the car and affect the nature of dynamic characteristics that may vary from certain critical values. The results of corrections to deceleration dependence on the road profile can be used for investigating traffic accidents, optimizing traffic control arrangements and implementing advanced systems for automotive active safety.

  19. S-HAL : safety handbook for locals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    The Safety Handbook for Locals (S-HAL) is intended to be a comprehensive : traffic safety resource for all local communities in Missouri, be it cities or : counties. The S-HAL mirrors the national Highway Safety Manual (HSM) : (AASHTO, 2010) in using...

  20. A randomized controlled trial of “Sikker Trafik LIVE” (“Road Safety LIVE”) – Sub-report 1

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Helle; Sandoy, Tróndur Møller; Kristensen, Christian Li

    2018-01-01

    This report presents the impact measurement for “Sikker Trafik LIVE” (“Road Safety LIVE”), an educational intervention carried out by the Danish Road Safety Council. The impact measurement concerns the part of the intervention aimed at the oldest pupils at primary and lower secondary schools: 8th...... to 10th grades (13-17 years old). The purpose of the LIVE intervention is to provide pupils with more insight into and a better understanding of the consequences of a serious road accident, and to focus attention on the choices pupils make in traffic. The aim is to motivate pupils to make safer choices...

  1. Verkeersveiligheid in Nederland.Nationaal overzicht ten behoeve van de OECD-group S1 on Concepts and Methodologies for Integrated Safety Programmes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Paar, H.G.

    1983-01-01

    Since 1974 traffic safety policy in the Netherlands has been coordinated by one department of the national government. For research on traffic safety there is a central integrating institute, the Dutch institute for road safety research SWOV. In 1975 a management policy for traffic safety was

  2. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE METHODOLOGY TO IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. V. Kapsky

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Recommendations for improving the road safety and quality of road traffic controlled junctions(crossings on individual parameters of traffic light control, improvement of traffic light control by optimizing the length of the transition interval in the traffic light cycle, increase awareness and early warning drivers about the upcoming change traffic lights division of transport and pedestrian traffic, road conditions , transportation planning and technical aids of road  traffic, as well as recommendations for the use of the hump in the settlements, etc.

  3. Taking ownership of safety. What are the active ingredients of safety coaching and how do they impact safety outcomes in critical offshore working environments?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krauesslar, Victoria; Avery, Rachel E; Passmore, Jonathan

    2015-01-01

    Safety coaching interventions have become a common feature in the safety critical offshore working environments of the North Sea. Whilst the beneficial impact of coaching as an organizational tool has been evidenced, there remains a question specifically over the use of safety coaching and its impact on behavioural change and producing safe working practices. A series of 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups of experts in the offshore industry: safety coaches, offshore managers and HSE directors. Using a thematic analysis approach, several significant themes were identified across the three expert groups including connecting with and creating safety ownership in the individual, personal significance and humanisation, ingraining safety and assessing and measuring a safety coach's competence. Results suggest clear utility of safety coaching when applied by safety coaches with appropriate coach training and understanding of safety issues in an offshore environment. The current work has found that the use of safety coaching in the safety critical offshore oil and gas industry is a powerful tool in managing and promoting a culture of safety and care.

  4. Fast Traffic Sign Recognition with a Rotation Invariant Binary Pattern Based Feature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shouyi Yin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Robust and fast traffic sign recognition is very important but difficult for safe driving assistance systems. This study addresses fast and robust traffic sign recognition to enhance driving safety. The proposed method includes three stages. First, a typical Hough transformation is adopted to implement coarse-grained location of the candidate regions of traffic signs. Second, a RIBP (Rotation Invariant Binary Pattern based feature in the affine and Gaussian space is proposed to reduce the time of traffic sign detection and achieve robust traffic sign detection in terms of scale, rotation, and illumination. Third, the techniques of ANN (Artificial Neutral Network based feature dimension reduction and classification are designed to reduce the traffic sign recognition time. Compared with the current work, the experimental results in the public datasets show that this work achieves robustness in traffic sign recognition with comparable recognition accuracy and faster processing speed, including training speed and recognition speed.

  5. Contributory factors to traffic crashes at signalized intersections in Hong Kong.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, S C; Sze, N N; Li, Y C

    2007-11-01

    Efficient geometric design and signal timing not only improve operational performance at signalized intersections by expanding capacity and reducing traffic delays, but also result in an appreciable reduction in traffic conflicts, and thus better road safety. Information on the incidence of crashes, traffic flow, geometric design, road environment, and traffic control at 262 signalized intersections in Hong Kong during 2002 and 2003 are incorporated into a crash prediction model. Poisson regression and negative binomial regression are used to quantify the influence of possible contributory factors on the incidence of killed and severe injury (KSI) crashes and slight injury crashes, respectively, while possible interventions by traffic flow are controlled. The results for the incidence of slight injury crashes reveal that the road environment, degree of curvature, and presence of tram stops are significant factors, and that traffic volume has a diminishing effect on the crash risk. The presence of tram stops, number of pedestrian streams, road environment, proportion of commercial vehicles, average lane width, and degree of curvature increase the risk of KSI crashes, but the effect of traffic volume is negligible.

  6. Influence of Ergonomics on Traffic Safety and Economy Development

    OpenAIRE

    Teodor Perić; Nada Štrumberger; Dean Perić

    2004-01-01

    As an interdisciplinary science, ergonomics needs to makethe operating of traffic safer, faster and more reliable, for thesake of higher profitability and generally improved economiceffects. This is achieved by adapting and shaping the workplace,machines, transport means, equipment, physical environment,working process etc. according to experience abouthuman anatomic physica~ sociologica~ intellectual and otherminimal, average or maximal capabilities. Therefore, it is necessaryto analyse ergo...

  7. Fast Drawing of Traffic Sign Using Mobile Mapping System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Q.; Tan, B.; Huang, Y.

    2016-06-01

    Traffic sign provides road users with the specified instruction and information to enhance traffic safety. Automatic detection of traffic sign is important for navigation, autonomous driving, transportation asset management, etc. With the advance of laser and imaging sensors, Mobile Mapping System (MMS) becomes widely used in transportation agencies to map the transportation infrastructure. Although many algorithms of traffic sign detection are developed in the literature, they are still a tradeoff between the detection speed and accuracy, especially for the large-scale mobile mapping of both the rural and urban roads. This paper is motivated to efficiently survey traffic signs while mapping the road network and the roadside landscape. Inspired by the manual delineation of traffic sign, a drawing strategy is proposed to quickly approximate the boundary of traffic sign. Both the shape and color prior of the traffic sign are simultaneously involved during the drawing process. The most common speed-limit sign circle and the statistic color model of traffic sign are studied in this paper. Anchor points of traffic sign edge are located with the local maxima of color and gradient difference. Starting with the anchor points, contour of traffic sign is drawn smartly along the most significant direction of color and intensity consistency. The drawing process is also constrained by the curvature feature of the traffic sign circle. The drawing of linear growth is discarded immediately if it fails to form an arc over some steps. The Kalman filter principle is adopted to predict the temporal context of traffic sign. Based on the estimated point,we can predict and double check the traffic sign in consecutive frames.The event probability of having a traffic sign over the consecutive observations is compared with the null hypothesis of no perceptible traffic sign. The temporally salient traffic sign is then detected statistically and automatically as the rare event of having a

  8. Drivers' use of marijuana in Washington state : traffic tech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-08-01

    In July 2014, Washington State allowed legal sales of : recreational marijuana. Working with the Washington : Traffic Safety Commission, NHTSA assisted the State in : conducting a roadside study to examine the prevalence : of marijuana use before and...

  9. The Impact of a Patient Safety Program on Medical Error Reporting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-05-01

    307 The Impact of a Patient Safety Program on Medical Error Reporting Donald R. Woolever Abstract Background: In response to the occurrence of...a sentinel event—a medical error with serious consequences—Eglin U.S. Air Force (USAF) Regional Hospital developed and implemented a patient safety...communication, teamwork, and reporting. Objective: To determine the impact of a patient safety program on patterns of medical error reporting. Methods: This

  10. Traffic at risk in Mediterranean

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bilardo, U.; Mureddu, G.

    1993-01-01

    The Mediterranean Sea represents only about 0.7% of the planet's total water surface area, yet it is host to as much as one-quarter of the world's total maritime oil traffic. Statistics indicate that from 47 to 77,000 tonnes of crude oil are now being released annually into the Sea through accidental spills; and over the last decade, its tourism dependent coastlines have been fouled by the highest levels of tar contamination in the world. Oil carrier traffic, routed within the Sea's already overcrowded shipping lanes, is intense and this traffic is expected to increase, as a result of rises in world energy demand, to levels of from 7 to 8 million barrels a day. It has been estimated that, at the end of 1992, 90% of all large tankers operating in this area, will have reached a service life of 15-16 years which is very close to the average recommended life cycle limit of 15-20 years. Only 20% of the world's 3,000 tankers are currently equipped with double bottomed hulls. This paper uses these and other facts and figures to argue that the risks of future severe oil tanker accidents in the Mediterranean Sea are high, and that these must be countered with the development of a new set of stricter marine traffic safety regulations at the Italian, national, as well as, European level

  11. New Innovative Ethical Principles in Increasing Road Safety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Igor Miletić

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Research Question (RQ: Future managers are faced daily with a variety of ethical dilemmas in traffic that need to be balanced by the interests of all participants. The question is whether a new innovative model of ethical principles could be developed that would increase road safety.Purpose: The a im is to raise the level of social responsibility and relationship of participants in traffic as well as warn all participants on the importance of safety. In addition, the purpose is to share suggestions to other researchers for further research studies in the area of increasing traffic safety.Method: We carried out a quantitative study (survey among first year post-graduate students studying at a higher education school focused on quality management in south-eastern Slovenia. The article presents five different ethical scenarios.Results: The participants have very similar views on judging individual ethical dilemmas. The desire to increase road safety, have led to new useful suggestions for further study of innovative new ethical principles in the field of safety, such as: no death victims annually, adequate road infrastructure, improved vehicle technology, video surveillance systems, and so on.Organization: Relevant authorities should promote models of ethical thinking and the introduction of codes of conduct at an early age. As such, the state, police, rescuers, fire departments, hospitals, and so on, would have fewer deaths due to serious traffic accidents.Society: By taking these results and further research suggestions into account, society would gain a new model that would be based on zero accidents annually.Originality: Research in the field of ethics and innovative ethical principles of traffic safety is limited. The article presents practical examples of ethical and moral decision-making that we encounter in daily traffic. But nothing much is done to make it better ("every day the same story".Limitations/Future Research: The research study

  12. Additional information for impact response of the restart safety rods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yau, W.W.F.

    1991-01-01

    WSRC-RP-91-677 studied the structural response of the safety rods under the conditions of brake failure and accidental release. It was concluded that the maximum impact loading to the safety rod is 6020 pounds based on conservative considerations that energy dissipation attributable to fluid resistance and reactor superstructure flexibility. The staffers of the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board reviewed the results and inquired about the extent of conservatism. By request of the RESTART team, I reassessed the impact force due to these conservative assumptions. This memorandum reports these assessments

  13. European vehicle passive safety network

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wismans, J.S.H.M.; Janssen, E.G.

    1999-01-01

    The general objective of the European Vehicle Passive Safety Network is to contribute to the reduction of the number of road traffic victims in Europe by passive safety measures. The aim of the road safety policy of the European Commission is to reduce the annual total of fatalities to 18000 in

  14. Towards reducing traffic congestion using cooperative adaptive cruise control on a freeway with a ramp

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georges Arnaout

    2011-12-01

    experiments and/or simulations provide a controlled setting, well suited for preliminary testing and calibrating of the input variables. However, laboratory testing is by no means sufficient for the entire methodology validation. It must be complemented by fundamental field testing. As far as the simulation model limitations, accidents, weather conditions, and obstacles in the roads were not taken into consideration. Failures in the operation of the sensors and communication of CACC design equipment were also not considered. Additionally, the special HOV lanes were limited to manual vehicles and CACC vehicles. Emergency vehicles, buses, motorcycles, and other type of vehicles were not considered in this dissertation. Finally, it is worthy to note that the human factor is far more sophisticated, hard to predict, and flexible to be exactly modeled in a traffic simulation model perfectly. Some human behavior could occur in real life that the simulation model proposed would fail to model.Practical implications: A high percentage of CACC market penetration is not occurring in the near future. Thus, reaching a high penetration will always be a challenge for this type of research. The public accessibility for such a technology will always be a major practical challenge. With such a small headway safety gap, even if the technology was practically proven to be efficient and safe, having the public to accept it and feel comfortable in using it will always be a challenge facing the success of the CACC technology.Originality/value: The literature on the impact of CACC on traffic dynamics is limited. In addition, no previous work has proposed an open-source microscopic traffic simulator where different CACC algorithms could be easily used and tested. We believe that the proposed model is more realistic than other traffic models, and is one of the very first models to model the behavior CACC vehicles on freeways.

  15. Algorithm for detecting violations of traffic rules based on computer vision approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibadov Samir

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We propose a new algorithm for automatic detect violations of traffic rules for improving the people safety on the unregulated pedestrian crossing. The algorithm uses multi-step proceedings. They are zebra detection, cars detection, and pedestrian detection. For car detection, we use faster R-CNN deep learning tool. The algorithm shows promising results in the detection violations of traffic rules.

  16. The impact of WASH-1400 on reactor safety evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanguy, P.Y.

    1976-01-01

    Trends in reactor safety evaluation in France following the publication of WASH-1400 (the Rasmussen Report) are presented. What is called 'the meteorite case' is first schematically presented as follows: WASH-1400 shows nuclear risk equivalent to meteorite risk and reasonable corrections cannot make many orders of magnitude, consequently present safety rules are adequate. The very impact of WASH-1400 on safety approach is then discussed as for: assistance to deterministic safety analysis, introduction of probabilistic safety criteria, acceptable level of risk, and the use of results in research and reactor operating experience

  17. Short paper: Distributed vehicular traffic congestion detection algorithm for urban environments

    OpenAIRE

    Milojevic, M.; Rakocevic, V.

    2013-01-01

    Vehicular traffic congestion is a well-known economic and social problem generating significant costs and safety challenges, and increasing pollution in the cities. Current intelligent transport systems and vehicular networking technologies rely heavily on the supporting network infrastructure which is still not widely available. This paper contributes towards the development of distributed and cooperative vehicular traffic congestion detection by proposing a new vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) cong...

  18. Prescription medicines and the risk of road traffic crashes: a French registry-based study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ludivine Orriols

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent decades, increased attention has been focused on the impact of disabilities and medicinal drug use on road safety. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between prescription medicines and the risk of road traffic crashes, and estimate the attributable fraction.We extracted and matched data from three French nationwide databases: the national health care insurance database, police reports, and the national police database of injurious crashes. Drivers identified by their national health care number involved in an injurious crash in France, between July 2005 and May 2008, were included in the study. Medicines were grouped according to the four risk levels of the French classification system (from 0 [no risk] to 3 [high risk]. We included 72,685 drivers involved in injurious crashes. Users of level 2 (odds ratio [OR]  = 1.31 [1.24-1.40] and level 3 (OR  = 1.25 [1.12-1.40] prescription medicines were at higher risk of being responsible for a crash. The association remained after adjustment for the presence of a long-term chronic disease. The fraction of road traffic crashes attributable to levels 2 and 3 medications was 3.3% [2.7%-3.9%]. A within-person case-crossover analysis showed that drivers were more likely to be exposed to level 3 medications on the crash day than on a control day, 30 days earlier (OR  = 1.15 [1.05-1.27].The use of prescription medicines is associated with a substantial number of road traffic crashes in France. In light of the results, warning messages appear to be relevant for level 2 and 3 medications and questionable for level 1 medications. A follow-up study is needed to evaluate the impact of the warning labeling system on road traffic crash prevention.

  19. Bilateral Carotid Artery Dissection after High Impact Road Traffic Accident

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Kelly

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available A 58 year old man was involved in a high impact road traffic incident and was admitted for observation. Asymptomatic for the first 24 hours, he collapsed with symptoms and signs consistent with a cerebrovascular accident. Computed tomography angiogram (CTA and Magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA demonstrated bilateral internal carotid artery dissections and a left middle cerebral artery infarct. It was not considered appropriate to attempt stenting or other revascularistation. The patient was treated with heparin prior to starting warfarin. He made a partial recovery and was discharged to a rehabilitation facility. This case is a reminder of carotid dissection as an uncommon but serious complication of high speed motor vehicle accident, which may be silent initially. Literature Review suggests risk stratification before relevant radiological screening at risk patients. Significant advances in CTA have made it the diagnostic tool of choice, but ultrasound is an important screening tool.

  20. Design and Operational Evaluation of the Traffic Management Advisor at the Ft. Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swenson, Harry N.; Vincent, Danny; Tobias, Leonard (Technical Monitor)

    1997-01-01

    NASA and the FAA have designed and developed and an automation tool known as the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA). The system was operationally evaluated at the Ft. Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). The TMA is a time-based strategic planning tool that provides Traffic Management Coordinators and En Route Air Traffic Controllers the ability to efficiently optimize the capacity of a demand impacted airport. The TMA consists of trajectory prediction, constraint-based runway scheduling, traffic flow visualization and controllers advisories. The TMA was used and operationally evaluated for forty-one rush traffic periods during a one month period in the Summer of 1996. The evaluations included all shifts of air traffic operations as well as periods of inclement weather. Performance data was collected for engineering and human factor analysis and compared with similar operations without the TMA. The engineering data indicates that the operations with the TMA show a one to two minute per aircraft delay reduction during rush periods. The human factor data indicate a perceived reduction in en route controller workload as well as an increase in job satisfaction. Upon completion of the evaluation, the TMA has become part of the normal operations at the Ft. Worth ARTCC.

  1. Penerapan Safety Management System (SMS) Dan Kompetensi Pemandu Lalu Lintas Penerbangan

    OpenAIRE

    Melissa, Anaria Carini; Subagyo, Toto Hardiyanto; Suharno, Hadi; Majid, Suharto Abdul

    2017-01-01

    The objective of the research is to analyze the influence between Implementation of Safety Management System (SMS) and Competency of Air Traffic Controller towards Aviation Safety at Perum LPPNPI Main Branch JATSC. Type of research is quantitative research by means of surveys, where data obtained through a questionnaire that will be distributed On Air Traffic Controller Perum LPPNPI Main Branch JATSC. The population in this research is an Air Traffic Controller Perum LPPNPI Main Branch JAT...

  2. Traffic Control Models Based on Cellular Automata for At-Grade Intersections in Autonomous Vehicle Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Wei Wu; Yang Liu; Yue Xu; Quanlun Wei; Yi Zhang

    2017-01-01

    Autonomous vehicle is able to facilitate road safety and traffic efficiency and has become a promising trend of future development. With a focus on highways, existing literatures studied the feasibility of autonomous vehicle in continuous traffic flows and the controllability of cooperative driving. However, rare efforts have been made to investigate the traffic control strategies in autonomous vehicle environment on urban roads, especially in urban intersections. In autonomous vehicle enviro...

  3. Analyzing traffic source impact on returning visitors ratio in information provider website

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasetio, A.; Sari, P. K.; Sharif, O. O.; Sofyan, E.

    2016-04-01

    Web site performance, especially returning visitor is an important metric for an information provider web site. Since high returning visitor is a good indication of a web site’s visitor loyalty, it is important to find a way to improve this metric. This research investigated if there is any difference on returning visitor metric among three web traffic sources namely direct, referral and search. Monthly returning visitor and total visitor from each source is retrieved from Google Analytics tools and then calculated to measure returning visitor ratio. The period of data observation is from July 2012 to June 2015 resulting in a total of 108 samples. These data then analysed using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to address our research question. The results showed that different traffic source has significantly different returning visitor ratio especially between referral traffic source and the other two traffic sources. On the other hand, this research did not find any significant difference between returning visitor ratio from direct and search traffic sources. The owner of the web site can focus to multiply referral links from other relevant sites.

  4. Safety performance indicators for the road network.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weijermars, W. Gitelman, V. Papadimitriou, E. Lima De & Azevedo, C.

    2010-01-01

    Within the 6th FP European project SafetyNet, a team has worked on the development of Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) on seven road safety related areas. These SPIs reflect the operational conditions of the road traffic system that influence the system's safety performance. SPIs were developed

  5. Detecting Anomaly in Traffic Flow from Road Similarity Analysis

    KAUST Repository

    Liu, Xinran

    2016-06-02

    Taxies equipped with GPS devices are considered as 24-hour moving sensors widely distributed in urban road networks. Plenty of accurate and realtime trajectories of taxi are recorded by GPS devices and are commonly studied for understanding traffic dynamics. This paper focuses on anomaly detection in traffic volume, especially the non-recurrent traffic anomaly caused by unexpected or transient incidents, such as traffic accidents, celebrations and disasters. It is important to detect such sharp changes of traffic status for sensing abnormal events and planning their impact on the smooth volume of traffic. Unlike existing anomaly detection approaches that mainly monitor the derivation of current traffic status from history in the past, the proposed method in this paper evaluates the abnormal score of traffic on one road by comparing its current traffic volume with not only its historical data but also its neighbors. We define the neighbors as the roads that are close in sense of both geo-location and traffic patterns, which are extracted by matrix factorization. The evaluation results on trajectories data of 12,286 taxies over four weeks in Beijing show that our approach outperforms other baseline methods with higher precision and recall.

  6. THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL NUCLEAR SAFETY REGIME IN BRAZIL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almeida, C.

    2004-01-01

    A turning point of the world nuclear industry with respect to safety occurred due to the accident at Chernobyl, in 1986. A side from the tragic personal losses and the enormous financial damage, the Chernobyl accident has literally demonstrated that ''a nuclear accident anywhere is an accident everywhere''. The impact was felt immediately by the nuclear industry, with plant cancellations (e.g. Austria), elimination of national programs (e.g. Italy) and general construction delays. However, the reaction of the nuclear industry was equally immediate, which led to the proposal and establishment of a Global Nuclear Safety Regime. This regime is composed of biding international safety conventions, globally accepted safety standard, and a voluntary peer review system. In a previous work, the author has presented in detail the components of this Regime, and briefly discussed its impact in the Brazilian nuclear power organizations, including the Regulatory Body. This work, on the opposite, briefly reviews the Global Nuclear Safety Regime, and concentrates in detail in the discussion of its impact in Brazil, showing how it has produced some changes, and where the peer pressure regime has failed to produce real results

  7. Texas curve margin of safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    This software can be used to assist with the assessment of margin of safety for a horizontal curve. It is intended for use by engineers and technicians responsible for safety analysis or management of rural highway pavement or traffic control devices...

  8. How indicative is a self-reported driving behaviour profile of police registered traffic law offences?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinussen, L M; Møller, M; Prato, C G; Haustein, S

    2017-02-01

    Although most motorised countries have experienced massive improvements in road safety over the last decades, human behaviour and differences in accident risk across sub-groups of drivers remains a key issue in the area of road safety. The identification of risk groups requires the identification of reliable predictors of safe or unsafe driving behaviour. Given this background, the aim of this study was to test whether driver sub-groups identified based on self-reported driving behaviour and skill differed in registered traffic law offences and accidents, and whether group membership was predictive of having traffic law offences. Sub-groups of drivers were identified based on the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) and the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI), while traffic offences and accidents were register-based (Statistics Denmark). The participants (N=3683) were aged 18-84 years and randomly selected from the Danish Driving License Register. Results show that the driver sub-groups differed significantly in registered traffic offences but not in registered accidents. In a logistic regression analysis, the sub-group "Violating unsafe drivers" was found predictive of having a traffic offence, even when socio-demographic variables and exposure were controlled for. The most important predictive factor, however, was having a criminal record for non-traffic offences, while gender, living without a partner, and being self-employed also had a significant effect. The study confirms the use of the DBQ and DSI as suitable instruments for predicting traffic offences while also confirming previous results on accumulation of problematic behaviours across life contexts. The finding that driver sub-groups did not differ in registered accidents supports the recent research activities in finding and modelling surrogate safety measures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Countermeasures that work : a highway safety countermeasure guide for state highway safety offices : eighth edition : 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-11-01

    The guide is a basic reference to assist State Highway Safety Offices in selecting effective, evidence- based : countermeasures for traffic safety problem areas. These areas include: : - Alcohol-and Drug-Impaired Driving; : - Seat Belts and Child Res...

  10. 36 CFR 1004.15 - Safety belts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Safety belts. 1004.15 Section 1004.15 Parks, Forests, and Public Property PRESIDIO TRUST VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC SAFETY § 1004.15 Safety... administered by the Presidio Trust will have the safety belt or child restraint system properly fastened at all...

  11. Performance standards of road safety management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Čabarkapa Milenko R.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Road safety management controlling means the process of finding out the information whether the road safety is improving in a measure to achieve the objectives. The process of control consists of three basic elements: definition of performances and standards, measurement of current performances and comparison with the set standards, and improvement of current performances, if they deviate from the set standards. The performance standards of road safety management system are focused on a performances measurement, in terms of their design and characteristics, in order to support the performances improvement of road safety system and thus, ultimately, improve the road safety. Defining the performance standards of road safety management system, except that determines the design of the system for performances measurement, directly sets requirements whose fulfillment will produce a road safety improvement. The road safety management system, based on the performance standards of road safety, with a focus on results, will produce the continuous improvement of road safety, achieving the long-term 'vision zero', the philosophy of road safety, that human life and health take priority over mobility and other traffic objectives of the road traffic.

  12. Task Analysis Assessment on Intrastate Bus Traffic Controllers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yen Bin, Teo; Azlis-Sani, Jalil; Nur Annuar Mohd Yunos, Muhammad; Ismail, S. M. Sabri S. M.; Tajedi, Noor Aqilah Ahmad

    2016-11-01

    Public transportation acts as social mobility and caters the daily needs of the society for passengers to travel from one place to another. This is true for a country like Malaysia where international trade has been growing significantly over the past few decades. Task analysis assessment was conducted with the consideration of cognitive ergonomic view towards problem related to human factors. Conducting research regarding the task analysis on bus traffic controllers had allowed a better understanding regarding the nature of work and the overall monitoring activities of the bus services. This paper served to study the task analysis assessment on intrastate bus traffic controllers and the objectives of this study include to conduct task analysis assessment on the bus traffic controllers. Task analysis assessment for the bus traffic controllers was developed via Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). There are a total of five subsidiary tasks on level one and only two were able to be further broken down in level two. Development of HTA allowed a better understanding regarding the work and this could further ease the evaluation of the tasks conducted by the bus traffic controllers. Thus, human error could be reduced for the safety of all passengers and increase the overall efficiency of the system. Besides, it could assist in improving the operation of the bus traffic controllers by modelling or synthesizing the existing tasks if necessary.

  13. Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allgood, G.O.; Ferrell, R.K.; Kercel, S.W.; Abston, R.A.

    1994-09-01

    Traffic management can be thought of as a stochastic queuing process where the serving time at one of its control points is dynamically linked to the global traffic pattern, which is, in turn, dynamically linked to the control point. For this closed-loop system to be effective, the traffic management system must sense and interpret a large spatial projection of data originating from multiple sensor suites. This concept is the basis for the development of a Traffic Flow Wide-Area Surveillance (TFWAS) system. This paper presents the results of a study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to define the operational specifications and characteristics, to determine the constraints, and to examine the state of technology of a TFWAS system in terms of traffic management and control. In doing so, the functions and attributes of a TFWAS system are mapped into an operational structure consistent with the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) concept and the existing highway infrastructure. This mapping includes identifying candidate sensor suites and establishing criteria, requirements, and performance measures by which these systems can be graded in their ability and practicality to meet the operational requirements of a TFWAS system. In light of this, issues such as system integration, applicable technologies, impact on traffic management and control, and public acceptance are addressed.

  14. Traffic flow wide-area surveillance system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allgood, Glenn O.; Ferrell, Regina K.; Kercel, Stephen W.; Abston, Ruth A.

    1995-01-01

    Traffic management can be thought of as a stochastic queuing process where the serving time at one of its control points is dynamically linked to the global traffic pattern, which is, in turn, dynamically linked to the control point. For this closed-loop system to be effective, the traffic management system must sense and interpret a large spatial projection of data originating from multiple sensor suites. This concept is the basis for the development of a traffic flow wide-area surveillance (TFWAS) system. This paper presents the results of a study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to define the operational specifications and characteristics, to determine the constraints, and to examine the state of technology of a TFWAS system in terms of traffic management and control. In doing so, the functions and attributes of a TFWAS system are mapped into an operational structure consistent with the Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) concept and the existing highway infrastructure. This mapping includes identifying candidate sensor suites and establishing criteria, requirements, and performance measures by which these systems can be graded in their ability and practicality to meet the operational requirements of a TFWAS system. In light of this, issues such as system integration, applicable technologies, impact on traffic management and control, and public acceptance are addressed.

  15. 76 FR 53660 - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Seat Belt Assemblies

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-29

    ... Traffic Safety Administration 49 CFR Part 571 [Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0078] Federal Motor Vehicle Safety... integration of electrical signals from vehicle crash sensors would work with the requested mechanical seat... (350,000) of the vehicles were stopped in the traffic lane prior to the crash event (pg. 22, Table 7...

  16. Aviation safety/automation program overview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morello, Samuel A.

    1990-01-01

    The goal is to provide a technology base leading to improved safety of the national airspace system through the development and integration of human-centered automation technologies for aircraft crews and air traffic controllers. Information on the problems, specific objectives, human-automation interaction, intelligent error-tolerant systems, and air traffic control/cockpit integration is given in viewgraph form.

  17. The use of a simulation model to analyze the impact of heavy transport generated by the port to the city traffic.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stasiak Natalia

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article presents an analysis of the impact of transport on heavy urban traffic on Wharf Kwiatkowski using program PTV Vissim. The data for analysis were taken from the Road and Greenery in Gdynia from program PTV Visum. Attention has been focused on vehicle traffic in the afternoon the top of its intensity. Model of Kwiatkowskiego Wharf, made entirely in the PTV VISSIM, was used for microscopic simulation of traffic. With its help, it was possible to find and analyze the behavior of each autonomous vehicle and interactions on the Web. For the analysis was used as a program of traffic lights currency at these junctions. The analysis results of simulation in the PTV VISSIM are related to the movement of the two structures. The first assumes that the route will move cars and trucks, taking into account their share in the network based on the intensity of traffic during peak hours of the afternoon, the second consisted only of cars. The results presented are based on measuring the time of travel and delays on specific relationships and the average length of queues at selected inlets. The results of analysis and simulation tests were subjected to statistical analysis.

  18. Ontology-Based Architecture for Intelligent Transportation Systems Using a Traffic Sensor Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susel Fernandez

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Intelligent transportation systems are a set of technological solutions used to improve the performance and safety of road transportation. A crucial element for the success of these systems is the exchange of information, not only between vehicles, but also among other components in the road infrastructure through different applications. One of the most important information sources in this kind of systems is sensors. Sensors can be within vehicles or as part of the infrastructure, such as bridges, roads or traffic signs. Sensors can provide information related to weather conditions and traffic situation, which is useful to improve the driving process. To facilitate the exchange of information between the different applications that use sensor data, a common framework of knowledge is needed to allow interoperability. In this paper an ontology-driven architecture to improve the driving environment through a traffic sensor network is proposed. The system performs different tasks automatically to increase driver safety and comfort using the information provided by the sensors.

  19. Robust classification of traffic signs using multi-view cues

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hazelhoff, L.; Creusen, I.M.; With, de P.H.N.

    2012-01-01

    Traffic sign inventories are created for road safety and maintenance based on street-level panoramic images. Due to the large capturing interval, large viewpoint deviations between the different capturings occur. These viewpoint variations complicate the classification procedure, which aims at the

  20. FAST DRAWING OF TRAFFIC SIGN USING MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Q. Yao

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Traffic sign provides road users with the specified instruction and information to enhance traffic safety. Automatic detection of traffic sign is important for navigation, autonomous driving, transportation asset management, etc. With the advance of laser and imaging sensors, Mobile Mapping System (MMS becomes widely used in transportation agencies to map the transportation infrastructure. Although many algorithms of traffic sign detection are developed in the literature, they are still a tradeoff between the detection speed and accuracy, especially for the large-scale mobile mapping of both the rural and urban roads. This paper is motivated to efficiently survey traffic signs while mapping the road network and the roadside landscape. Inspired by the manual delineation of traffic sign, a drawing strategy is proposed to quickly approximate the boundary of traffic sign. Both the shape and color prior of the traffic sign are simultaneously involved during the drawing process. The most common speed-limit sign circle and the statistic color model of traffic sign are studied in this paper. Anchor points of traffic sign edge are located with the local maxima of color and gradient difference. Starting with the anchor points, contour of traffic sign is drawn smartly along the most significant direction of color and intensity consistency. The drawing process is also constrained by the curvature feature of the traffic sign circle. The drawing of linear growth is discarded immediately if it fails to form an arc over some steps. The Kalman filter principle is adopted to predict the temporal context of traffic sign. Based on the estimated point,we can predict and double check the traffic sign in consecutive frames.The event probability of having a traffic sign over the consecutive observations is compared with the null hypothesis of no perceptible traffic sign. The temporally salient traffic sign is then detected statistically and automatically as the rare

  1. 36 CFR 4.15 - Safety belts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Safety belts. 4.15 Section 4... TRAFFIC SAFETY § 4.15 Safety belts. (a) Each operator and passenger occupying any seating position of a motor vehicle in a park area will have the safety belt or child restraint system properly fastened at...

  2. The impact of traffic-flow patterns on air quality in urban street canyons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thaker, Prashant; Gokhale, Sharad

    2016-01-01

    We investigated the effect of different urban traffic-flow patterns on pollutant dispersion in different winds in a real asymmetric street canyon. Free-flow traffic causes more turbulence in the canyon facilitating more dispersion and a reduction in pedestrian level concentration. The comparison of with and without a vehicle-induced-turbulence revealed that when winds were perpendicular, the free-flow traffic reduced the concentration by 73% on the windward side with a minor increase of 17% on the leeward side, whereas for parallel winds, it reduced the concentration by 51% and 29%. The congested-flow traffic increased the concentrations on the leeward side by 47% when winds were perpendicular posing a higher risk to health, whereas reduced it by 17-42% for parallel winds. The urban air quality and public health can, therefore, be improved by improving the traffic-flow patterns in street canyons as vehicle-induced turbulence has been shown to contribute significantly to dispersion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Air pollution impacts of speed limitation measures in large cities: The need for improving traffic data in a metropolitan area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldasano, José M.; Gonçalves, María; Soret, Albert; Jiménez-Guerrero, Pedro

    2010-08-01

    Assessing the effects of air quality management strategies in urban areas is a major concern worldwide because of the large impacts on health caused by the exposure to air pollution. In this sense, this work analyses the changes in urban air quality due to the introduction of a maximum speed limit to 80 km h -1 on motorways in a large city by using a novel methodology combining traffic assimilation data and modelling systems implemented in a supercomputing facility. Albeit the methodology has been non-specifically developed and can be extrapolated to any large city or megacity, the case study of Barcelona is presented here. Hourly simulations take into account the entire year 2008 (when the 80 km h -1 limit has been introduced) vs. the traffic conditions for the year 2007. The data has been assimilated in an emission model, which considers hourly variable speeds and hourly traffic intensity in the affected area, taken from long-term measurement campaigns for the aforementioned years; it also permits to take into account the traffic congestion effect. Overall, the emissions are reduced up to 4%; however the local effects of this reduction achieve an important impact for the adjacent area to the roadways, reaching 11%. In this sense, the speed limitation effects assessed represent enhancements in air quality levels (5-7%) of primary pollutants over the area, directly improving the welfare of 1.35 million inhabitants (over 41% of the population of the Metropolitan Area) and affecting 3.29 million dwellers who are potentially benefited from this strategy for air quality management (reducing 0.6% the mortality rates in the area).

  4. Outer Synchronization between Two Coupled Complex Networks and Its Application in Public Traffic Supernetwork

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen-ju Du

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents a new urban public traffic supernetwork model by using the existing bus network modeling method, consisting of the conventional bus traffic network and the urban rail traffic network. We investigate the synchronization problem of urban public traffic supernetwork model by using the coupled complex network’s outer synchronization theory. Analytical and numerical simulations are given to illustrate the impact of traffic dispatching frequency and traffic lines optimization to the urban public traffic supernetwork balance.

  5. The global nuclear safety regime and its impact in Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almeida, C.

    2004-01-01

    This work describes the Global Nuclear Safety Regime that was established worldwide after the accident at the Tchernobyl nuclear power plant. This regime is composed of biding international safety conventions, globally accepted safety standard, and a voluntary peer review system. The impact of this Global Regime in Brazil is also discussed. (Author)

  6. Traffic theory

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Gazis, Denos C

    2002-01-01

    ... of traffic signal settings The vehicle-actuated traffic signal 87 89 77 CHAPTER 3. TRAFFIC CONTROL 101 Objectives of Traffic Control 103 Single, Isolated Intersection 105 Synchronization Scheme...

  7. Evaluation of health and safety impacts of defense high-level waste in geologic repositories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, E.D.; Kocher, D.C.; Witherspoon, J.P.

    1985-02-01

    Pursuant to the requirement of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that the President evaluate the use of commercial high-level waste repositories for the disposal of defense high-level wastes, a comparative assessment has been performed of the potential health and safety impacts of disposal of defense wastes in commercial or defense-only repositories. Simplified models were used to make quantitative estimates of both long- and short-term health and safety impacts of several options for defense high-level waste disposal. The results indicate that potential health and safety impacts are not likely to vary significantly among the different disposal options for defense wastes. Estimated long-term health and safety impacts from all defense-waste disposal options are somewhat less than those from commercial waste disposal, while short-term health and safety impacts appear to be insensitive to the differences between defense and commercial wastes. In all cases, potential health and safety impacts are small because of the need to meet stringent standards promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We conclude that health and safety impacts should not be a significant factor in the choice of a disposal option for defense high-level wastes. 20 references, 14 tables

  8. Comparative analysis of characteristics and risk factors of traffic injury in aged people from urban and rural areas in Chongqing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Liang; Zhou, Ji-Hong; Qiu, Jun; Zhang, Xiu-Zhu; Yuan, Dan-Feng; Gao, Zhi-Ming; Dai, Wei

    2012-01-01

    To study the epidemiologic characteristics of traffic injuries among people over 60 years old in the Nan'an district (urban) and Jiangjin district (rural) of Chongqing, and to discuss the corresponding strategies for its prevention and cure. Records of traffic injuries in people over 60 years old registered by the traffic police between 2000 and 2006 in Nan'an district and Jiangjin district were collected in the Database of Road Traffic Accidents and Traffic Injuries. Epidemiologic characteristics of traffic injuries among the aged people were analyzed and compared. Between the year 2000 and 2006, the average annual incidence of traffic injuries and mortality rate in the aged people in Nan'an district were 124.62/100 000 and 13.85/ 100 000 respectively, higher than that in Jiangjin district (27.49/ 100 000, 7.13/100 000, P less than 0.01). However, the mortality rate for the aged people who were involved in traffic injuries in Jiangjin district was 20.60%, higher than that in Nan'an district (10.00%, P less than 0.01). Head injury was the primary cause of death. Totally 76.58% of casualties were pede-strians. Over 90% of the traffic accidents occurred in the areas with no traffic signal or traffic control system. The traffic environment is unfavorable to the aged people. It is important to enhance traffic safety consciousness of drivers and the elderly and to strengthen traffic safety system and traffic law, so as to provide a safe road traffic environment for the aged people.

  9. A Wavelet Analysis Approach for Categorizing Air Traffic Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drew, Michael; Sheth, Kapil

    2015-01-01

    In this paper two frequency domain techniques are applied to air traffic analysis. The Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT), like the Fourier Transform, is shown to identify changes in historical traffic patterns caused by Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs) and weather with the added benefit of detecting when in time those changes take place. Next, with the expectation that it could detect anomalies in the network and indicate the extent to which they affect traffic flows, the Spectral Graph Wavelet Transform (SGWT) is applied to a center based graph model of air traffic. When applied to simulations based on historical flight plans, it identified the traffic flows between centers that have the greatest impact on either neighboring flows, or flows between centers many centers away. Like the CWT, however, it can be difficult to interpret SGWT results and relate them to simulations where major TMIs are implemented, and more research may be warranted in this area. These frequency analysis techniques can detect off-nominal air traffic behavior, but due to the nature of air traffic time series data, so far they prove difficult to apply in a way that provides significant insight or specific identification of traffic patterns.

  10. Linking spatial and dynamic models for traffic maneuvers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olderog, Ernst-Rüdiger; Ravn, Anders Peter; Wisniewski, Rafal

    2015-01-01

    For traffic maneuvers of multiple vehicles on highways we build an abstract spatial and a concrete dynamic model. In the spatial model we show the safety (collision freedom) of lane-change maneuvers. By linking the spatial and dynamic model via suitable refinements of the spatial atoms to distance...

  11. Towards Reducing the Dangers Associated with Road Traffic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    USER

    2018-04-25

    Apr 25, 2018 ... ensure drivers' personal safety and to comply with traffic regulations explain high seat belt .... which used to be the public transport fares charged for commuting in Bedford 'mummy trucks' .... females generally are risk-averse and have high-risk perception levels ... places of worship and social gatherings.

  12. The role of traffic psychology in psychopharmacological research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brookhuis, K.A.

    After the definite breakthrough of the awakening to the negative effects of alcohol on traffic safety, some 50 years ago in the sixties of the past century (see Borkenstein et al., 1974), authorities began to worry about drugs, initially medicinal drugs. After World War II, the prescription and

  13. Impact of overnight traffic noise on sleep quality, sleepiness, and vigilant attention in long-haul truck drivers: Results of a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roland FJ Popp

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate the impact of traffic noise along the motorway on sleep quality, sleepiness, and vigilant attention in long-haul truck drivers. This was a randomized, crossover, within-subject controlled study. Healthy long-haul truck drivers spent 6 consecutive nights in a real truck berth with full sleep laboratory equipment. During 3 nights, subjects were exposed to replayed traffic noise alongside motorways, whereas the other 3 nights were without traffic noise. Polysomnography was recorded during the nights and numerous sleepiness tests and vigilance examinations were performed during the following standardized working day. Outcome measures were compared between noisy and silent nights using the paired Wilcoxon test. Ten healthy long-haul truck drivers with a mean age of 36.3 ± 7.3 years completed the study as planned. On noisy nights, subjects had greater latencies to the rapid eye movement (REM phase (90 ± 32 min vs 69 ± 16 min, P = 0.074 and higher percentages of sleep stage 1 (13.7 ± 5.5% vs 11.2 ± 4.4%; P = 0.059. Subjects also rated their sleep quality as having been better during nights without noise (28.1 ± 3.7 vs 30.3 ± 6.2, P = 0.092. The impact of these differences on daytime sleepiness and vigilance was rather low; however, mean Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS scores measured during the course of the following day were higher on six out of eight occasions after noisy nights. The effects of overnight traffic noise on sleep quality are detectable but unlikely to have any major impact on the vigilant attention and driving performance of long haul-truck drivers with low nocturnal noise sensitivity. This might not be true for subgroups prone to sleeping disorders.

  14. Impact of overnight traffic noise on sleep quality, sleepiness, and vigilant attention in long-haul truck drivers: Results of a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popp, Roland Fj; Maier, Stefanie; Rothe, Siegfried; Zulley, Jürgen; Crönlein, Tatjana; Wetter, Thomas C; Rupprecht, Rainer; Hajak, Göran

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to evaluate the impact of traffic noise along the motorway on sleep quality, sleepiness, and vigilant attention in long-haul truck drivers. This was a randomized, crossover, within-subject controlled study. Healthy long-haul truck drivers spent 6 consecutive nights in a real truck berth with full sleep laboratory equipment. During 3 nights, subjects were exposed to replayed traffic noise alongside motorways, whereas the other 3 nights were without traffic noise. Polysomnography was recorded during the nights and numerous sleepiness tests and vigilance examinations were performed during the following standardized working day. Outcome measures were compared between noisy and silent nights using the paired Wilcoxon test. Ten healthy long-haul truck drivers with a mean age of 36.3 ± 7.3 years completed the study as planned. On noisy nights, subjects had greater latencies to the rapid eye movement (REM) phase (90 ± 32 min vs 69 ± 16 min, P = 0.074) and higher percentages of sleep stage 1 (13.7 ± 5.5% vs 11.2 ± 4.4%; P = 0.059). Subjects also rated their sleep quality as having been better during nights without noise (28.1 ± 3.7 vs 30.3 ± 6.2, P = 0.092). The impact of these differences on daytime sleepiness and vigilance was rather low; however, mean Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) scores measured during the course of the following day were higher on six out of eight occasions after noisy nights. The effects of overnight traffic noise on sleep quality are detectable but unlikely to have any major impact on the vigilant attention and driving performance of long haul-truck drivers with low nocturnal noise sensitivity. This might not be true for subgroups prone to sleeping disorders.

  15. Modeling pedestrian gap crossing index under mixed traffic condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naser, Mohamed M; Zulkiple, Adnan; Al Bargi, Walid A; Khalifa, Nasradeen A; Daniel, Basil David

    2017-12-01

    There are a variety of challenges faced by pedestrians when they walk along and attempt to cross a road, as the most recorded accidents occur during this time. Pedestrians of all types, including both sexes with numerous aging groups, are always subjected to risk and are characterized as the most exposed road users. The increased demand for better traffic management strategies to reduce the risks at intersections, improve quality traffic management, traffic volume, and longer cycle time has further increased concerns over the past decade. This paper aims to develop a sustainable pedestrian gap crossing index model based on traffic flow density. It focusses on the gaps accepted by pedestrians and their decision for street crossing, where (Log-Gap) logarithm of accepted gaps was used to optimize the result of a model for gap crossing behavior. Through a review of extant literature, 15 influential variables were extracted for further empirical analysis. Subsequently, data from the observation at an uncontrolled mid-block in Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was gathered and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Binary Logit Model (BLM) techniques were employed to analyze the results. From the results, different pedestrian behavioral characteristics were considered for a minimum gap size model, out of which only a few (four) variables could explain the pedestrian road crossing behavior while the remaining variables have an insignificant effect. Among the different variables, age, rolling gap, vehicle type, and crossing were the most influential variables. The study concludes that pedestrians' decision to cross the street depends on the pedestrian age, rolling gap, vehicle type, and size of traffic gap before crossing. The inferences from these models will be useful to increase pedestrian safety and performance evaluation of uncontrolled midblock road crossings in developing countries. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Safety and design impact of hurricane Andrew

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guey, Ching N.

    2004-01-01

    Turkey Point completed the IPE in June of 1991. Hurricane Andrew landed at Turkey Point on August 24, 1992. Although the safety related systems, components and structures were not damaged by the Hurricane Andrew, certain nonsafety related components and the neighboring fossil plant sustained noticeable damage. Among the major components that were nonsafety related but would affect the PRA of the plant included the service water pumps and the high tower. This paper discusses the safety and design impact of Hurricane Andrew on Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant. The risk of hurricanes on the interim and evolving plant configurations are briefly described. The risk of the plant from internal events as a result of damage incurred during Hurricane Andrew are discussed. The design change as the result of Hurricane Andrew and its impact on the PRA are presented. (author)

  17. Safety impacts of bicycle infrastructure: A critical review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiGioia, Jonathan; Watkins, Kari Edison; Xu, Yanzhi; Rodgers, Michael; Guensler, Randall

    2017-06-01

    This paper takes a critical look at the present state of bicycle infrastructure treatment safety research, highlighting data needs. Safety literature relating to 22 bicycle treatments is examined, including findings, study methodologies, and data sources used in the studies. Some preliminary conclusions related to research efficacy are drawn from the available data and findings in the research. While the current body of bicycle safety literature points toward some defensible conclusions regarding the safety and effectiveness of certain bicycle treatments, such as bike lanes and removal of on-street parking, the vast majority treatments are still in need of rigorous research. Fundamental questions arise regarding appropriate exposure measures, crash measures, and crash data sources. This research will aid transportation departments with regard to decisions about bicycle infrastructure and guide future research efforts toward understanding safety impacts of bicycle infrastructure. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

  18. Application of classification algorithms for analysis of road safety risk factor dependencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Oh Hoon; Rhee, Wonjong; Yoon, Yoonjin

    2015-02-01

    Transportation continues to be an integral part of modern life, and the importance of road traffic safety cannot be overstated. Consequently, recent road traffic safety studies have focused on analysis of risk factors that impact fatality and injury level (severity) of traffic accidents. While some of the risk factors, such as drug use and drinking, are widely known to affect severity, an accurate modeling of their influences is still an open research topic. Furthermore, there are innumerable risk factors that are waiting to be discovered or analyzed. A promising approach is to investigate historical traffic accident data that have been collected in the past decades. This study inspects traffic accident reports that have been accumulated by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) since 1973 for which each accident report contains around 100 data fields. Among them, we investigate 25 fields between 2004 and 2010 that are most relevant to car accidents. Using two classification methods, the Naive Bayes classifier and the decision tree classifier, the relative importance of the data fields, i.e., risk factors, is revealed with respect to the resulting severity level. Performances of the classifiers are compared to each other and a binary logistic regression model is used as the basis for the comparisons. Some of the high-ranking risk factors are found to be strongly dependent on each other, and their incremental gains on estimating or modeling severity level are evaluated quantitatively. The analysis shows that only a handful of the risk factors in the data dominate the severity level and that dependency among the top risk factors is an imperative trait to consider for an accurate analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Guidage du vol le long des trajectoires 3D+T et gestion du traffic de l'espace référence

    OpenAIRE

    Ab Wahid , Mastura

    2015-01-01

    With the increase in air traffic, surely a question of flight efficiency (delays), environment impact and safety arise. This calls for improvements in accuracy of spatial and temporal trajectory tracking. The first main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the synthesis of a space-indexed nonlinear guidance control law for transportation aircraft presenting enhanced tracking performances and to explore the performances and feasibility of a flight guidance control law which is develope...

  20. Engineering Social Justice into Traffic Control for Self-Driving Vehicles?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mladenovic, Milos N; McPherson, Tristram

    2016-08-01

    The convergence of computing, sensing, and communication technology will soon permit large-scale deployment of self-driving vehicles. This will in turn permit a radical transformation of traffic control technology. This paper makes a case for the importance of addressing questions of social justice in this transformation, and sketches a preliminary framework for doing so. We explain how new forms of traffic control technology have potential implications for several dimensions of social justice, including safety, sustainability, privacy, efficiency, and equal access. Our central focus is on efficiency and equal access as desiderata for traffic control design. We explain the limitations of conventional traffic control in meeting these desiderata, and sketch a preliminary vision for a next-generation traffic control tailored to address better the demands of social justice. One component of this vision is cooperative, hierarchically distributed self-organization among vehicles. Another component of this vision is a priority system enabling selection of priority levels by the user for each vehicle trip in the network, based on the supporting structure of non-monetary credits.